


A Breath of Fresh Air

by Cigarettes_and_Valentines



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Capes, M/M, also dick was adopted by bruce but jay wasn't, dick's kinda an exhibitionist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-20
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2018-09-18 17:52:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9396434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cigarettes_and_Valentines/pseuds/Cigarettes_and_Valentines
Summary: Dick Grayson is the most eligible bachelor in Gotham, and he can have it all. Flashy cars, expensive jewelry and people who adore him. However it's all just become a little boring to him. That was, until he met a breath of fresh air named Jason Todd.





	1. Chapter 1

Dick shifted uncomfortably in the new suit Bruce had made him buy for this stupid charity dinner. It was a rich navy blue Armani number, made of smooth, silky material. Paired with a white Gucci shirt, an overpriced watch and handmade Italian leather shoes, he was sure his outfit in total was worth more than how much his parents had made in half a year. Not that he  _ minded _ the decadence much. It was just that he found it boring. The same charity dinners with the same guests in the same fancy banquet halls. Oh sure, the decorations are different. If Mary Stoller, owner of the Gotham Fine Art Gallery had twelve ice sculptures at her event, Harry Jones, CEO of the Gotham Youths in Music foundation needed to have at least thirteen. Or something cooler than ice sculptures. Like solid gold statues.Dick had once attended a charity event hosted by a rich old billionaire who decided to decorate with golden statues of himself. 

Okay, that one was a bit much. If Bruce one day decided to put up gold statues of himself all over the place, Dick was ready to deny ever having any contact with him.

His mind was wandering off too much. But who could blame him? Dinner hadn’t been served yet and these things never became interesting until at least halfway through, when guests were beginning to have a little too much to drink.

“Will you be having the truffles or the caviar as a starter tonight, Sir?” The waiter asked, drawing him away from his train of thoughts. Dick looked up and it was like a breath of fresh air. He was muscular, that much was clear from the small waistcoat he was dressed in. His skin was a warm tanned brown and his piercing blue-green eyes stood out as much as that single lock of white hair hanging down near his eyes. Maybe he'd been spending too much time with middle-aged business people and their spoiled kids, and that was why he felt such an instant spark of attraction to someone who knew what it was like to not have a life of luxury.

It was only when Dick realized that the waiter was still looking at him that he realized why he was here.

“Oh, uh, yeah. The caviar please.” Dick said quickly. He could feel Bruce's eyes giving him a questioning look from the seat next to him even while he was turned away. Hopefully nobody had noticed his blush. Quickly, he picked up a glass of champagne and emptied it, resolving to enter a deep conversation about advertising strategies with the businessman sitting next to him.

As the starters began to arrive, a blonde woman in a long sparkly silver dress stood up and was given a microphone.

“And it delights me today to see so many people giving their time and money to such an important cause.” She talked on and on. “The dedication and support in this room could make anything possible, and I would like to thank you all for your kindness and generosity.” The handsome waiter let out a snort as he began serving their table. Dick was beginning to like this guy more and more.

When the waiter went to serve Dick, however, he must have slipped or something. Somehow Dick ended up with a large splat of caviar down his white Gucci shirt. The waiter’s eyes went wide with terror.

“Omigodsir.” All his words came out at once. “Are you okay? I'm so sorry. It was a complete accident. You aren't hurt are you? Really, I'm so, so sorry. Is there anything I can do for you?” Dick let out a laugh.

“It's okay. Don't worry about it.” He flashed the waiter his signature charming smile. “It's just a shirt, really.”

“Are you sure? You can come to staff washroom if you want. We have something for getting stains out of shirts if you want it.” The waiter offered.

“Sure.” Dick said, and stood up, letting the waiter lead him out of the dining room.

“I'm Dick, by the way. Dick Grayson.” He said.

“I know.” The waiter replied. “Soon of the richest man in Gotham, one of the most eligible bachelors in the city. Everyone knows who you are.”

“I didn't know everyone was so concerned about how available I was.”

“Sure they are. I mean, if I married you I'd never have to worry about rent a day in my life.” The waiter replied. “And yeah, the name's Jason, by the way. Jason Todd.”  _ Jason Todd.  _ He liked the way it felt on his lips.

“And by the way, Jason. I agree.”

“What?”

“About her speech. Total bullshit.”

“I know right? I mean, if people here were actually concerned about helping the homeless, they wouldn't be having fancy expensive dinners for the rich and famous. They could actually put that money towards doing some good.” Jason's eyes shone brighter when he was passionate. It was hard not to notice. 

“I know what you mean. It's all for show, few people here actually care about making a change.” 

“Yeah, I've noticed. Everyone here seems to care too much about their status and who they know. They make a few shitty speeches about whatever the hell it is they're supposed to raise money for and then spend the night throwing money around and getting drunk.” Jason said, almost angrily. “Except for you, of course.” That part came out in a more quiet, sheepish tone. 

“Except for me, I guess.” Dick replied with a smile. “Now how about that staff bathroom, then?”

“Oh yeah, about that. There isn’t really anything special about the staff bathroom.” Jason admitted. “I just thought that you might need an escape.”

“Well, thanks very much.” Dick said as they walked down the hallway. “I’m not sure how much more of that bullshit I could stand before I went insane. You can only handle so many business conversations before you start trying to work out how many canapes you need to shove in your mouth at once in order to choke.”

“Fourteen.” Jason replied promptly, receiving a raised eyebrow from Dick. “What? Sometimes we get a little bored when we’re cleaning up, and those leftovers would just go to waste otherwise.” Dick laughed, which made Jason blush. His laugh felt like happy little bells ringing in his ears. It must have been one of the best things he’d ever heard. 

“So,” Dick ran his fingers down Jason’s arm. “What are we going to do now?”

“Well that depends.” Jason smiled a lot more confidently now, taking Dick’s hand in his. “Should we do something about that shirt? I was thinking we could get rid of it.”

“Sounds good to me.” Dick replied, and quickly Jason pulled Dick into a nearby storage closet, flicked on the light and closed the door behind them. 

“Well, this must be the most romantic first date I’ve been on in a while.” Dick said, prodding a mop which stood upright in a bucket. Yes, the storage closet was not the most romantic place in the world, with shelves on all sides of the four square foot room and cleaning supplies lying around on the floor.

“What can I say? I know how to treat a man, Dickie.” Jason grinned. Dick grinned back as he unbuttoned his soiled shirt and dropped it unceremoniously on the floor, smiling even more when this caught Jason’s eye. It wasn’t like he didn’t know what all the magazines said about him when pictures of his latest vacation in Bora Bora were spread all over them. He liked to think that he think that he was pretty good-looking, and Jason’s reaction seemed to confirm that theory.

“So, Mr. Todd, tell me.” Dick stepped closer. “What do you want to do now?”

“Uh, I don’t know.” Jason replied. “I mean honestly I didn’t even think I’d get this far.” Dick laughed and took Jason’s hand again. 

“Well, if that’s the case, how about giving the tabloids something to freak out over.” He leaned in closer until his lips were ghosting against Jason’s. “How about it?”

“Sounds like a plan, Dickie.” Jason said, and Dick took this as a sign to go. He pressed his lips to Jason’s, and damn they felt good. There was the faint taste of cigarettes and something spicy on his lips. When Jason kissed back, Dick went full on. He reached up and wound his fingers in Jason’s hair as he kissed Jason deeper. They bit and sucked at each other’s lips, hands running through hair and across skin, Dick moaned as Jason slipped his tongue past his lips, 

“Jason,” Dick moaned, as Jason wrapped his arms around him and pushed him up against a shelf stocked with toilet paper. Jason began to trail kisses across his jaw and down his neck, nuzzling at his throat. Dick’s grip on his hair tightened as he moaned again. Jason’s hands began trailing down his chest, running up and down his warm skin. He reached over and pulled at Jason’s collar for a few seconds before unbuttoning his shirt. Jason’s chest was nothing to sniff at either. He must have worked out a lot, because he was even buffer than Dick. 

Dick ran his hands down Jason’s chest and back slowly, taking his time with the smooth, brown skin. He tilted his head back and moaned as Jason ran his fingers across his nipples. Dick tightened his grip on Jason’s skin, digging his nails into his back. 

“Fuck,” He whispered and buried his face in the crook of Jason’s neck, kissing and biting at his skin. With Jason’s lips on his skin, he slid his hand down to his belt buckle, holding it there for a few seconds. He looked into Jason’s eyes, asking for permission. In response, Jason pressed into Dick’s hand, making it clear that he wanted him too. 

And with that, Dick unbuckled Jason’s belt and quickly pulled down his pants and boxers. If he wasn’t already hard, he was now. He ground his thigh against Jason’s dick, watching as now he was the one moaning in ecstasy. Jason’s hands slipped lower down to Dick’s hips. 

“Shit.” Jason whispered. “No lube.” 

“Hold on.” Dick took one hand off of Jason to hunt through his pants pocket. He pulled out a small tub of vaseline. The kind that people carried around to use for their lips. Dick handed the small tub over to Jason.

“Always prepared, aren’t you, Dickie?” Jason teased as he took the vaseline and removed Dick’s pants. 

“Well it doesn’t hurt to be ready, doesn’t it?” Dicke replied as Jason ran his fingers slowly across his hips. Jason smirked as he coated his fingers in vaseline. He then reached down and ran his fingers slowly around Dick’s entrance, leaning in closer and pressing his body against Dick’s. Dick could feel Jason’s erection pressed against his abs. It had been too long since he’d done something like this. Normally he wouldn’t be able to even think about doing anything like this without Bruce’s voice in his head telling him that he had to watch out to “protect his image”. But Jason made him not care any more. With Jason, he didn’t care if anyone found him, because at least he was enjoying himself for once, 

“You ready?” Jason asked, his finger about to press into Dick.

“Come on, hit me with all you’ve got.” Dick replied. He gasped as Jason pressed a finger into Dick’s ass.

“Oh God, Dickie.” Jason whispered, his lips still touching Dick’s neck. “You feel so good. So tight and warm.” 

“Jay.” Dick groaned, pulling on Jason’s hair. Jason pressed in another finger, making Dick moan even louder. At this point if anyone was walking past, they definitely would have heard them. Jason stretched Dick carefully while Dick’s fingers dug further into his skin, leaving long scratch marks running down his back. He pumped his fingers in and out while Dick panted and thrust back onto Jason’s fingers, his cock leaking precum.

“Jason, Fuck.” 

“What was that?”

“Please. I… need…”

“Hmm, what do you need?”

“I… please,,, your… dick.” 

“Oh?” Jason pumped his fingers even faster. “I didn’t catch that.”

“Jason… Jay… Jay… please… fuck me. Please… need you… in me.” Dick managed to get out a few broken sentences. He looked back at Jason who remained silent for a few seconds before he pulled his fingers out, eliciting a whine from Dick. 

“Don’t worry, Dickie. I gotcha.” Jason replied, lining himself up carefully. He pressed the head of his dick into the opening of Dick’s hole. 

“Oh, Jason please.” Dick begged. And with that, Jason grabbed Dick’s hips and thrust in. Dick let out a loud cry and gripped harder onto Jason. “Oh, fuck.”

Jason continued to thrust, now slowing down the pace until Dick moaned and whined for more, pressing back onto Jason’s dick to get more friction. Dick reached up and pulled at Jason’s hair again, bringing his head forward and kissing Jason’s lips in a warm, open-mouthed kiss. Jason moaned into Dick’s mouth and sped up, his thrusts becoming quicker and deeper.

It wasn’t long before Dick felt overwhelmed. “Jay,” He panted “Jay, I think I’m gonna -”

“Hmm?” Jason sped up, and a few moments later with a great cry Dick came, all over the both of them. Jason gave a few more thrusts before he too came with a moan. He pulled out and gave Dick another deep kiss. 

“Well, that was definitely better than another boring charity dinner..” Dick said with a smile, picking his pants back up.

“I’m glad you liked it.” Jason replied. He reached behind Dick and grabbed a pack of toilet paper. He ripped open the plastic packaging and pulled out a roll, unwinding some and wiping himself off, handing the roll over to Dick.

“So, what now?” Jason asked. 

“When do you get off work?” Dick asked. 

“In about an hour, but I might be able to blow it off early if I wanted to.”

“And would you want to?” Dick asked. 

“Sure. Hold on. Wait here. Just let me get my shit and then we can leave.” Jason said, and headed out the door. A few minutes later, he returned with a backpack.

“Should we head out, then?” Dick asked. Jason held up a finger as he dropped his bag to the floor. Rooting around, he finally found what he was looking for and pulled out a red hoodie, tossing it over to Dick. 

“Can’t have you catching a cold, walking around without your shirt, can we, Dickie?” Jason replied. He them carefully opened the door again and took a peek to check that the coast was clear. Quickly, they hurried out of the room and out of the building. 

When they were in the parking lot, Dick inhaled a breath of fresh night air. This was nice to be able to go out and have fun like a normal person, and not spend another second stuck with stuck up millionaires and businesspeople. 

Jason led him to a black motorcycle and handed him a helmet.

“Nice ride.” Dick said, admiring the smooth, aerodynamic lines of the vehicle.

“She’s my baby.” Jason patted the motorcycle affectionately. “Come on, let’s take her for a spin.”


	2. Chapter 2

Jason put on a red helmet and climbed onto his motorbike. Dick slipped his on and sat down behind him, wrapping his arms around his waist. Pressed up so closely to Jason, he could smell his leather jacket mixed with Jason’s cigarette smoke scent. Jason’s smell was intoxicating. It drew him closer in. Hell, if he wasn’t wearing a helmet right now, he would have been trailing kisses up and down Jason’s exposed neck.

“So, where are we going?” Dick asked.

“It’s a surprise.” Jason replied.

“You’re not trying to kidnap me are you?” Dick said playfully.

“I dunno. Maybe I’ll let you go if you’re good.” Jason leaned back slightly into Dick’s touch.

“In that case, I’ll make sure to be on my worst behaviour.” Dick replied. Jason laughed as he lifted the kickstand and revved the engine.

“You ready?” He asked.

“As I’ll ever be.” Dick tightened his grip on Jason’s waist as the motorcycle took off with a lurch. He’d always loved the feeling of the air rushing past you when you were on a bike. That was why he has so many of them. He hadn’t spent much time sitting as a passenger, though. And he had to admit that there was something preferable about having his arms around someone, especially someone as muscular as Jason.

After a couple of minutes, Dick noticed that they were beginning to head into a seedier part of Gotham, away from the five star hotels and fancy restaurants he was used to. Okay, maybe jumping onto the motorbike of some guy he barely knew didn’t really seem like a very good idea, but it was too late for that now. He’d probably be able to get out of it anyways. Or at least he hoped so.

Eventually the bike to a stop, and Dick took that as a sign to get off and pull his helmet off. He ran his hand through his hair and looked around. There was a sleazy-looking bar, a very suspicious alleyway, and a dingy Chinese take-out restaurant. Really not the most romantic date he had ever been on. But he stopped worrying about that when Jason slid off the motorbike and wrapped an arm around his waist.

“I know, it isn’t much to look at, but I can make it worth your while.”

“It’s okay, really.”

“Not what you’re used to?” Jason asked.

“Not really, no. But it’s a nice change.” Dick replied.

“You’re so polite.” Jason said incredulously. “You can say that it’s a shithole you know, I don’t mind.”

“It’s – it’s interesting. I’ll give you that.” Jason smiled and shook his head as he led Dick to the takeout restaurant and opened the door for him. He entered after Dick and closed the door behind them.

“Hey buddy, how you doing?” Jason called to the server. “I’ll take the usual. And what are you having, Dickie?”

“Huh?”

“I kinda ruined your chance to have a fancy meal tonight. The least I can do is buy you dinner at this point.” Jason replied, gesturing towards the menu stuck to the wall. Dick frowned as he pored it over. He picked mu shu pork, rice and an egg roll. No reason to blow Jason’s wallet. He then followed as Jason led him through another door and up a flight of stairs before they reached a small apartment.

“Nice place.” Dick commented, eyeing the peeling wallpaper and mold spots on the ceiling of the hallway leading up to his door.

“Once again, you’re too polite.” Jason replied as he opened the door, revealing a small, but clean and comfortable-looking apartment. “Welcome to Casa de Jason.” He led Dick into the room and towards the couch. Dick took a seat while Jason disappeared into the kitchen, coming back with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

“Can I interest you in a drink while you wait for your meal, sir?” Jason asked, holding out the bottle of wine with the label facing upwards, the way he’d been trained to do. Dick laughed and placed his hands on Jason’s hips, pulling him down to sit next to him.

“I’d rather have something else.” Dick replied with a smile, and began to trail kisses along Jason’s neck. He wrapped his arms around Jason and pulled him in closer, running his hands through his smooth, black hair. Jason responded by kissing Dick, slipping his hands under the hoodie he’d given him to stroke his skin. Their make-out session, however, was interrupted by a shy teenager handing them the Chinese food they’d ordered from the takeout below. Dick had shooed Jason away when he tried to pay for the meal, pulling out his Platinum Amex card and giving the surprised teenager a large tip. He carried the food back to the couch and handed one box over to Jason. The food wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. He dug in, savouring the food.

“So,” Jason began, stabbing his chicken chow mien with a chopstick. “What do you do when you aren’t blowing off fancy dinner parties?”

“Working out.” Dick replied. “I love acrobatics. Other than that, working on cars, bikes and helping to look after my brothers.”

“Acrobatics, huh?” Jason asked, picturing Dick in a skin-tight sparkly costume. Holy crap he was going to have to save that image in his head for later.

 “Yeah. I used to be a circus performer before I got adopted.” Dick said nonchalantly.

“No way!”

“Really. I used to be a trapeze artist.” Dick said.

“Seriously?” Jason asked. “I always thought you were like born, like rich or something.”

“Nope.” Dick replied. “I spent the first ten years of my life living in a trailer and performing circus acts. Not really what you’d call living the high life.”

“It must have been cool, though. I bet you got to live with bearded ladies and elephants and all that shit.”

“Eh, the elephants were cool. The bearded lady was a bit of a bitch, though.” They both laughed. Dick’s phone went off in his pocket, and he surreptitiously pushed it deeper in his pants pocket. He went back to his pork before Jason could notice anything.

“So.” Dick ignored the buzzing in his pocket. “Tell me more about you.”

“Uh, well there isn’t much really.” Jason replied sheepishly.

“C’mon.” Dick leaned closer to Jason. “I bet you’re pretty interesting.”

“Why are you here?” Jason asked.

“What?” Dick froze, his smile falling from his face.

“I mean, why are you here? With me?”

“Because I like you?” Dick replied. “Now eat up, you’re probably gonna want a lot of energy for what we’re going to do tonight.” He edged Jason’s food closer towards him.

“You could have gone home with anyone you wanted tonight. There were supermodels and everything there. Why would you pick me?” Dick picked up on a tone of desperation in his voice. Whatever confidence Jason had before, it was clearly gone now. 

“Because I didn’t want to, Jason.” Dick replied. “I don’t want to go out on any more dates with vapid socialites who are just interested in improving their status. You aren’t like them – “

“I know that – “

“What I mean is that you’re _real._ ” Dick insisted. “That’s what I like about you. You’re your own person. It definitely makes for better dinnertime conversation. Now spill. Tell me something cool.” Jason smiled and took another bite of his chicken, relaxing a little in his seat.

“So I grew up in East Gotham.” Jason said. “Went to high school and all that shit, now I’m waiting tables while I’m at college.”

“What are you studying?”

“English lit.” Jason replied. “I know, probably won’t get me a job, but I’d really like to become like a prof or something.”

“Sounds pretty cool.”

“Did you go to college?”

“Yeah, business school. At the request of my dad.”

“That sounds interesting.”

“Not really. I had to, you know. Heir stuff.” Dick ignored the buzzing that continued to go on in his pocket. He knew it was Bruce calling, and he really wished he couldn’t deal with him right now. One night of actually enjoying himself instead of going through the torture of another one of those dinners was all he wanted, and he as going to make sure he got it.

“Sure, heir stuff.” Jason said. “All that ribbon-cutting and posing for pictures. How are you gonna do that without a degree?”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t know.” Dick joked.

“Exactly! God forbid you cut the ribbon wrong.” Jason said in mock horror. “Or what if you pose wrong? Your ass might not be accentuated enough! Then what’ll happen?” The two burst into laughter. Dick wiped a tear from his eye. It had been a while since he’d been able to laugh so much. And _really_ laugh, not just the fake ones he had to put on not to insult people.

They finished their food and had a few more beers before retiring to the bedroom together for another round of what went on the in the storage room. This time they took it slower, which Dick appreciated more. He loved being able to gently run his hands over Jason’s skin, and pepper him with soft, gentle kisses. Dick lay in Jason’s surprisingly comfortable bed, playing with Jason’s singular white streak of hair. He twirled it between his fingers, marveling at how soft it felt. His train of thought, however was halted by the constant buzzing emanating from his pants pocket. Dick groaned. This must have been at least the third or fourth time Bruce had called him. At this point, if he ignored him any longer, Bruce would probably end up calling the police.

He sighed and climbed out of bed, fishing his phone out of his hands pocket.

“Hey, Bruce.” Dick answered cheerily.

“Dick? What the hell happened? Are you okay?”

“Oh, I just stepped out for a sec.” Dick could hear Bruce let out a tired sigh on the other end of the line.

“Dick it’s four in the morning. Where the hell are you?”

“Chill, Bruce. I’m fine.” Dick placated him. “I just went out with a friend, okay. I’ll head back soon.”

“Good. Do you need me to send Alfred with a car?”

“No, no need.” Dick replied.  “I wouldn’t want to wake him up. I’ll get home on my own.”

“Are you sure?” Bruce asked. “I can come and pick you up if you want.”

“I’ll be fine, Bruce.”

“But Dick – “

“No really I’ll be fine. Bye.” Dick hung up before Bruce could go on any longer, and then began hunting around for his clothes. He was half-dressed by the time Jason had woken up.

“You leaving already?” Jason pouted. “You can stay longer if you want, you know. I make some mean pancakes.”

“Sounds tempting, but I gotta get back home. Bruce has been calling me constantly.” Dick smiled, pulling Jason’s hoodie back on.

“Were you staying out past curfew?” Jason joked, propping himself up on his elbow. Dick laughed.

“He can just get a little protective sometimes. That’s all.”

“So you’re gonna have to head back then?” Jason asked.

“Yeah, unfortunately.”

“Well at least let me take you home.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can get a cab.” Dick waved him off politely.

“C’mon. It’s the middle of the night. It’ll be a pain in the ass getting a cab. Let me take you to the manor.” Jason replied. He got out of bed and began to get dressed too.

“Alright.” Dick said. “Let’s go.”

And then Dick was back on Jason’s motorbike, yelling directions into his ear over the roar of the bike’s engine. Eventually, they pulled up to the manor. Dick popped off his helmet and handed it back to Jason, who was whistling at the size of the manor and its grounds sprawled out in front of him.

“Nice place.” Jason said.

“Would you like to come in?” Dick offered.

“As pleasing as that sounds, I don’t think your dad would be too pleased about seeing me right now.” Jason replied. He took off his helmet and leaned in to give Dick a kiss. “Call me, okay?”

“Will do!” Dick called over his shoulder as he walked back to the manor

~ ~ ~

When he entered, he was greeted by Bruce sitting in an armchair, waiting for him with a book in his lap, looking very displeased. On the nightstand next to him was Dick’s dinner jacket, which Dick had left at the party.

“What kind of time do you call this?” He asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Look, I’m sorry I stayed out too late, Bruce. It won’t happen again.” He reached for his jacket, but Bruce snatched it out of his reach. 

“What are you wearing?”

“A hoodie.”

“Where’s your shirt?”

“Bruce please – “

“Dick. I care about you. I want what’s best for you. Talk to me. Please.”

“Fine.” Dick sighed. “I went out to go and hook up with a guy.”

“Dick, I told you to be careful.” Bruce chided.

“I was! I used condoms and everything!”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Yeah, what you meant was that you don’t think _any_ of the guys I date are appropriate, or whatever.”

“ _What I mean_ is that when you run off in the middle of the night to have sex with someone I don’t even know, it makes me concerned.”

“Bruce please, I’m not a teenager anymore. I’m a grown adult. I can handle a relationship.”

“Dick, I’m only concerned about you.”

“You don’t need to be Bruce. I can handle this.” Dick snatched the jacket out of Bruce’s hand and marched off to his bedroom, frustrated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Featuring Wingman Roy to save the day
> 
> Also, Tim is 16 and Dami is 10 here.

The next day, Dick was sat in his office at Wayne Industries, where he was supposed to be reviewing some budgets for the next quarter. He stared at the numbers on his laptop screen, barely paying attention.  He was so bored. Leaning back in his chair, he twirled around to look at the view he had of Gotham City. It was a dismal, overcast day. Tall grey buildings towered over busy, grey streets. Dick sighed. It was depressing. He was stuck in the same damn room and the same damn meetings day in and day out. Since Bruce was still somewhat mad at him from the other day, he was already in a shitty mood. And he didn’t really need that to be made worse by another joyless day at the office. He picked up his phone and twirled it between his fingers. He hadn’t managed to get Jason’s number, so the only method he had of contacting him was his address. Would it be that weird if he were to just show up at Jason’s place one day? Probably. Instead, he decided to text a friend.

Hey Roy, wanna meet up for brunch?  
Bruce is mad at me and I’m bored as hell here. I need a mimosa.

Sure, Le Rouge Gorge at 11 sound good?

See you there J

Dick went back to looking out of his window. He wondered where Jason was right now. Probably in class right now. He could imagine him leaning forward in his chair, hanging on to the professor’s every word. Jason would definitely handwrite his notes. He probably had piles of notebooks with scribbled lecture notes in them, chewing on the end of his pen while he thinks up of questions to ask his professors. Damn, even in his imagination, Jason was adorable. He really should have tried to get his number last night.

At eleven o’clock, Dick told his assistant not to bother him for an hour while he went out. He headed to the fancy downtown Gotham restaurant. When he got there, Roy was already sitting at a table, playing with the multiple forks laid out in front of him. Dick went over to the table.

“Hey Roy.” Dick shrugged off his jacket and hung it over the back of his chair before taking a seat.

“Hey, Dickie.” Roy replied. Dick noticed that Roy was growing his hair out a little longer. It looked a little messy, but the shoulder-length red hair definitely suited him a lot more than the buzzcut he’d gotten at one point. He was also looking pale and tired, with noticeable bags under his eyes. That was always common with Roy, though. The party animal usually looked half-alive if he was spotted before six in the evening.

“Wow, you’re up before three.” Dick smiled. “What happened?”

“Ollie’s trying to get me more involved in the business.” Roy continued to play with his salad fork. “He thinks it’ll make me more responsible or something.”

“Roy, you know he care about you.” Dick began, but quickly fell silent as a waiter approached. No need to have their intimate conversations pasted in next week’s issue of the Gotham Gazette’s gossip column.

“Can I get you gentlemen anything to drink?” The man asked.

“I’ll get a bloody mary, heavy on the vodka. And he’ll take a mimosa.” Roy replied. “And for food, I’ll get the French toast as a starter, then the crab crepe and finish it off with crème brûlée.” Roy handed the menu back to the waiter.

“Uh, could I get the lobster bisque for starters, the New York strip for the main – medium rare, please – and the tarte aux pommes for dessert?” Dick flashed the waiter a smile. “Thanks.” Dick waited until he was sure the waiter was out of earshot before he continued the conversation.

“Roy, Ollie cares about you.” Dick repeated.

“Please, the only thing Ollie cares about is making sure that I don’t make a big scandal that causes his stocks to drop.” Roy dismissed him, thanking the waiter when he reappeared with both drinks. Dick took a sip of his mimosa and let out a sigh, enjoying the refreshing citrus taste.

“Come on Roy, you should at least give him a shot. At least try to get along with him, okay?” Dick asked. Roy took a long sip of his bloody mary, rolling the liquid around in his mouth for a moment as he thought. He swallowed and nodded.

“Speaking of daddy issues, why is Bruce pissed at you this time?”

“You say that like it’s a regular occurrence.” Dick smiled.

“I mean, I’m not wrong, am I?” Roy smiled, leaning back as their starters arrived.

“He’s just being his usual overprotective self.” Dick said as he hug his spoon into his soup. “I met this really nice guy at a gala last night, so I decided to blow the rest of the night off to have a little bit of fun. And then Bruce kinda lost it when he found out.”

"And I'm guessing Bruce was pulling his 'no boy is good enough for my precious son' shtick again?" Roy said with a mouthful of french toast.  
  
"I don't know. He just needs to relax a little. Jason's a really sweet guy and I'd like it if Bruce didn't ruin this relationship." Dick sighed.  
  
"You know maybe if Bruce got laid more often, he wouldn't be so uptight." They both laughed.  
  
"I really don't think I'm going to be telling Bruce to do it more often. I've heard enough about his playboy phase from Alfred. I'd rather not experience it first hand."  
  
"Why not? I mean you could turn the manor into the ultimate sex pad."  
  
"You know, I'd rather not have a bunch of girls walking around who I know are banging my dad." Dick shook his head. “All I want is for Bruce to chill out a little, and realize that I’m an adult. He doesn’t need to be watching over my shoulder every five seconds.”

“This guy’s got you really worked up, then.” Roy smiled.

“He just a really nice guy, Roy. He’s in college and he loves literature and he speaks fluent Spanish and he’s so cute.” Dick rambled. “He doesn’t care about my money, or my name or shit like that. He likes me for who _I_ am, not all this celebrity shit.”

“And Bruce doesn’t like that?”

“Bruce doesn’t like the fact he’s a waiter barely making minimum wage.” Dick smiled brightly as the waiter took away his empty soup bowl and replaced it with his steak.

“Hmm.” Roy motioned for the waiter to bring him another drink. “Wanna pretend we’re dating again? Give Bruce something to really get mad about.” Dick laughed. Roy had been Dick’s friend since they were kids, and they had ended up dating for a while. Bruce had not been very happy when Dick had started going out with a drug-using, bad-boy, party animal. It had probably worsened his already protective hold. And that didn’t get any better with all the times Roy had gotten him nearly arrested.

“Somehow I think that would only make him even worse.” Dick replied. “The last time you nearly got me arrested Bruce was ready to send me to jail anyways.”

“So when you go out with this Jason guy, he already has something much worse to compare him to!”

“Thanks for taking for hit, buddy.” Dick chuckled. “I don’t know how I’d survive without you making every one of my exes look better in comparison with your glowing failure.”

“What can I say? I have a gift.” Roy shrugged his shoulders. “So are you going to call this guy back?”

“I would, if I got his number.” Dick admitted.

“You’ve been dreaming about this guy all day and you didn’t even get his number?” Roy raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah, so I don’t know how I’d get in touch with him without just showing up outside his house like something out of a 90’s tv show.”

“Couldn’t you find him on Facebook?” Roy asked. Dick looked at him for a moment before he smacked his palm against his forehead.

“I forgot Facebook!” Dick exclaimed. “I can’t believe I forgot Facebook.” Hurriedly, he pulled out his phone and opened up Facebook. He searched for a Jason Todd living in Gotham. After a short search, he found his profile. His profile picture showed him wearing sunglasses and a sleeveless shirt. He smiled as he thumbed over the photo.

“Hmm, what have we got here?” Roy leaned over the table. He grabbed Dick’s phone, swatting away his hands. “Oooh. He’s hot. Well done.”

“Roy!” Dick reached over the table to grab his phone back, but Roy simply leaned back out of the way while he continued to flick his way through Jason’s selfies. “Give that back!”

“No.” Roy replied, tapping on the screen. “Oh, look, he already accepted your friend request.”

“What the hell, Roy?” Dick tried again to grab his phone, but Roy refused to give it up.

“Shall we send him a little message?” Roy smirked.

“No.” Dick narrowed his eyes at Roy. “ _I_ am going to send him a message. _You_ are going to give my phone back, and that’s it.”

“Nah.” Roy gave Dick a devilish grin. “How about, ‘hey baby, I had fun last night. How about you meet me at the manor tonight for another go?”

“Roy, stop you’re going to make me sound like a douchebag!” Dick protested.

“Too late. Already sent it.” Roy tossed the phone back to Dick. Fuming, he hurried to type in another message.

 _Sorry about that earlier message, my friend stole my phone. Pls ignore it._ He was about to let out a sigh of relief when he noticed three dots appear underneath his message. Fuck. He was replying.

_Too bad_ _L_ _  
I was about to say yes._

Dick had to read over the message a couple of times to make sure he wasn’t reading it wrong. Roy smiled at Dick’s expression.

“Did it work?”

“Shut up, Roy.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Maybe. Now shut up Roy.” Dick went back to his phone.

_You can totally still come over if you want!!_

_What about your dad?_

_He’ll be fine. He has a big deal to land tomorrow so he’s probably going to spend most of the night in his study anyways. He’ll be too busy to care_

_Are you sure?_

_What are you, scared?_ Dick sent along an emoji of a scared cat.

 _No way._  
I’ll be over  
8 sound good to you?

Dick’s heart was hammering in his chest

 _That sounds great!_  
See you tonight  
xx 

He thought the two kisses and the end might have been a little too much, but then Jason replied with a kiss emoji which made Dick’s heart flutter.

“Aren’t you going to thank me?” Roy asked. Dick rolled his eyes.

“Eat your damn crepe.” He said, going back to his meal, scrolling through Jason’s Facebook page while he ate. Jason went to Gotham U, he was part of the school’s Mexican Student Association, and it looked like he volunteered at a public library helping kids too. It was like the more he knew about Jason, the more he fell in love with him. They spent the rest of their meal chatting and talking about whatever else came to their minds, Dick in a much better mood now that he knew that he w as going to see Jason again.

Dick went back to the office after a few more mimosas, not bothered too much by the daunting amount of paperwork he’d been ignoring. He spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about Jason, and thinking about how they were going to spend the night together. It wasn’t going to be just sex. Dick knew that neither of them wanted it that way. Maybe they could watch a movie together or something. Not as extravagant as most second dates he went on, but he felt like Jason would like it more than any fancy restaurant. He wondered what kind of movies Jason liked to watch. Bruce had raised him watching classic Hollywood movies, but he had a feeling that Jason wouldn’t be too fond of those.  

When the last meeting of the day had finished and Dick could finally go home, he felt like a kid who had just gotten out of school on the last day of class. Now he could go home and get ready for his date.

Tim and Damian were already home from school by the time Dick got to the manor. Tim sat on a couch in the living room, doing something on his laptop. Damian was sat at the coffee table, doing some homework. Dick swooped in to ruffle Tim’s hair and give Damian a kiss on the top of his head.

“Hey guys, how was school?” He asked brightly.

“I got caught sleeping in class again and Damian got detention for throwing a baseball at the gym teacher so hard he had to go to the nurse’s office.” Tim replied without looking up from his laptop.

“Damian!” Dick turned around to the child, who innocently took a sip from his glass of juice.

“He wanted me to pitch and I did, Grayson. Personally I don’t think he should even be teaching us if he can get beat by a child.”

“I wouldn’t call hitting him in the crotch with a fastball ‘winning’ par say.” Tim interjected. “Although, if you do it more often, I might consider signing you up for Little League.” Dick sighed. It seemed like he always ended up parenting his younger brothers.

“Damian, playing nice with others means everyone, including the teachers.” Dick said sternly. “And Tim, stop capitalizing off of your brother’s bad behaviour. You’re only encouraging him to be even worse.”

“Wow, short lecture today. Someone’s in a good mood.” Tim commented.

“That’s because _I_ have a date tonight.”

“No you don’t.”

“What do you mean? I think I would know.”

“ _I mean_ Bruce called. He’s probably going to pull an all-nighter at the office today, and it’s Alfred’s day off today. You’re supposed to be babysitting.”

“Crap.” Dick bit his lip.

“Yeah, I’m sorry but you’re going to have to cancel any fancy dinner reservations you made. You get to spend the night looking after us.” Tim shot Dick a faux-angelic smile. Dick sighed and took out his phone, ready to cancel on Jason. He read over their messages again, an idea coming to him. Jason was already coming to the manor, so it wasn’t like Dick would be entirely shirking off his responsibility as a babysitter if he came over. And besides, Jason had said he loved kids. He probably wouldn’t mind if Dick had to go check on them every now and again. Tim would be no trouble. The kid was probably going to spend the whole night either on the internet or talking to his new boyfriend, Kon. Either way, nothing to worry about. Damian, on the other hand, was likely to be a little more trouble. But really, Dick doubted it was going to be anything he couldn’t manage.

“You already invited him over, didn’t you?” Tim peered at Dick over the screen.

“Maybe.”

“You gonna tell him not to come?”

“Probably not.”

“Whatever.” Tim shrugged and went back to his laptop. “Your funeral.”


	4. Chapter 4

Sometimes, Dick underestimated how difficult looking after children was. Or, to be more exact, he underestimated how difficult it was to look after his brothers. He’d already confiscated Tim’s phone twice because he’d been attempting to sext his new boyfriend Connor (Dick reminded himself to tell Bruce it was time to give Tim another “Talk” while he took away his phone). And to make matters worse, Damian was not responding well to the idea of having a visitor come over.

“No! I won’t have some stranger come here to defile you, Grayson!” Damian protested when Dick told him Jason would be over.

“Dami, he isn’t a stranger. He’s a friend. And besides, we’re probably just going to watch a movie together, that’s all.” Dick assured him.

“Are you sure?” Damian narrows his eyes. “And what if he tries his ways with you?”

“He won’t.” Dick smiled.

“You don’t know that for certain.” Damian had definitely inherited Bruce’s scepticism.

“Really, Dami. I can handle myself. And besides, he’s a nice guy. You might like him.”

“Pft. I doubt it.” Damian snorted and went back to his drawing. “Is dinner ready yet? I’m starving.” Dick looked at his watch. _Fuck._ It was 7:15. He’d put dinner in the oven over an hour ago. Jason was going to be here in forty-five minutes and he still hadn’t made dinner or gotten dressed. He rushed over to the kitchen, where Tim was sitting at the table, his phone back in his hands and clearly texting his boyfriend again. When Dick entered, Tim looked at him for a moment before turning back to his phone.

“I think dinner’s burning.” He said casually. Dick narrowed his eyes and went to the oven.

“You know, you could have warned me.” Dick pulled on the oven mitts.

“You could have not taken my phone.” Tim did not look up from his screen. Dick sighed and opened the oven pulling out a tray containing a large, black and crispy chunk that was once lasagna. He wafted away the smoke and dropped the tray down on top of the oven. He groaned and rested his arms on the counter. This night wasn’t going well at all. The lasagna Alfred had prepared for them in advance with so much care was now inedible. Damn it.

“I guess we’re ordering take-out tonight.” Dick sighed. “What are you in the mood for?”

“I dunno.” Tim shrugged. “Mexican?”

“Sounds good. Since you aren’t going to give up your phone, can you call and order while I check on Dami and go get ready?”

“Oh yeah, your date is coming over soon, right?” Tim smirked. “Have you figured out how you’re going to stop Dami from attacking him?”

“Yes, and no.” Dick ran a hand through his hair. “I was just hoping to send him off to bed early tonight.”

“Pfft.” Tim didn’t look back up from his phone. “Good luck with that.”

“You know,” Dick grabbed a spatula and began trying to remove the hardened black remains of dinner out of the pan and into the trash. “You could help me out.”

“Yeah, I could.” Tim commented. “But what’s in it for me?”

“How about your brother’s happiness?”

“Pass.”

“Fine, you can have your phone all night. Dick relented. Tim turned to face him, unimpressed. “Okay, and I won’t tell Bruce about that time you snuck out last week to meet up with Conner.”

“Okay.” Tim nodded. “I accept. You go get ready or whatever. I’ll deal with dinner.” After a quick word of thanks, Dick hurried up to his room and flung open his wardrobe. He paused for a moment to think about what Jason would like to see. Probably not some extravagant designer crap, which to be honest made up about half of his closet. He hunted around to find something that looked casual, but still looked nice enough to show that he’d put some effort into getting ready. Finally, he settled on a pair of black jeans that clung to his waist and ass in a way that almost everybody would appreciate, and a silky blue button-up shirt, because he vaguely remembered being told by someone that it brought out his eyes. He busied himself with styling his hair, running through it with his fingers while looking in the mirror. This was interrupted by someone ringing at the doorbell.

Dick ran down the stairs, jumping the last two and rushing to the door. Although, he couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed when he saw that it was not Jason standing in the doorway. It was in fact, the delivery boy from the Mexican restaurant, carrying a plastic bag in one hand and a card reader in the other.

“Uh, so that’s going to be twenty-nine sixty please.” The teenager said. “Is that cash, credit or debit.”

“Cash.” Dick pulled two twenties out of his wallet and handed them back to the teenager. “Keep the change.” Dick smiled and brought the bag into the dining room, heading back into the kitchen to grab some plates.

“Dinner’s ready!” He called out as he laid three seat at the table and checked his watch. He had twenty minutes until Jason was supposed to arrive. How the hell he was going to get Damian to eat and go to bed in that short space in time, he had no idea. He just hoped that Jason was the type to show up “fashionably late”, giving him more time to get his shit together. He took a seat in his chair and opened the bag, taking all the Styrofoam boxes out and laying them out on the table. Damian joined him first, taking the seat next to Dick and looking at all the food spread across it.

“Is Drake really incapable of eating anything that isn’t smothered in cheese or stuffed with meat?” Damian narrowed his eyes.

“Hey, he ordered you some vegetarian stuff.” Dick said, peering over at the dishes. “Here.” He pushed the box of vegetarian enchiladas towards him, as well as the beans and rice. Damian scrunched up his nose as he examined the food.

“I guess this will be sufficient.” Damian said. “Where’s Drake?”

“Probably still texting or whatever.” Dick replied. “TIM! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE, IT’S DINNER TIME!” A few moments later, Tim appeared, still clutching his phone inches from his face. Dick frowned at him before turning back to his food. He grabbed himself a couple tacos and took a bite into one. He closed his eyes and let out a dismayed sigh as the filling spilled out of the soft tortilla shall and ran down his chest, leaving a large brown stain on the front of his shirt. He groaned. Really, how could this night get any worse? Dick got up, ready to change his shirt. But before he could move from the table, the doorbell rang. He swore loudly. If that was Jason at the door, it looked like his luck was really going to get worse tonight.

“Tim, can you get the door while I go change?” Dick asked, but before Tim could even respond., Damian was up on feet.

“Don’t worry, Grayson.” Damian said. “I’ll get it.”

“No!” Dick didn’t want Damian to scare away another potential boyfriend just because he shared Bruce’s overprotective gene. He raced Damian across the hallways of the manor to the front door. His younger brother attempted to tackle him out of the way, and he had to pretty much shove him off to make his way to the door before Damian did.

Eventually, Dick reached the front door. When he opened it, he must have looked quite the state. He was out of breath, his hair which he had spent so much time on all mussed, and his outfit crumpled and stained. In front of him stood Jason, looking perfect in a pair of dark jeans and his brown leather jacket. Upon seeing him, a smile stretched across Jason’s face, and that it changed into a look of concern when he noticed how frazzled Dick looked.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Dick was panting after sprinting across the manor. “It’s just – Bruce is pulling an all-nighter at the office tonight. I ended up babysitting my brothers tonight.”

“Oh geez.” Jason rubbed his neck. “If you’re busy, I guess we can reschedule for another night?”

“No, no.” Dick said as he tried to catch his breath. “It’s fine, really. Come in and join us for dinner.” He ran a hand through his hair and led Jason to the dining room, where his brothers sat, looking silently at their new guest.

“Guys,” Dick smiled. “This is Jason. Jason, these are my brothers Tim and Damian. Now I’m just going to run upstairs and change. You guys play nice!” He turned to give Damian a look which clearly said _I swear to God, don’t you dare try anything to mess up our night._ Dick rushed upstairs, hoping that Damian wouldn’t attempt to stab Jason or something like that before he got back. He flung open his closet and picked out the first shirt he saw that looked good. A tight red shirt that clung to his skin.

Thankfully, by the time he had gotten back downstairs, no altercation had occurred. Tim was still texting, and Damian was scowling at Jason. This didn’t seem to bother Jason, as he dug into the beans and rice casually. Jason looked up at him and smile.

“Hey, Dickie. You look great.”

“Thanks.” Dick took a seat next to Jason and let out a sigh as he relaxed into his chair. Maybe things would turn out okay after all.

“So Damian, how old are you?” Jason asked.

“That is none of your business.” Damian turned in his seat to face away from Jason. Dick groaned and pulled his Styrofoam tray of tacos over to him.

“Damian, please be nice.” He said tiredly. “I’m sorry, he’s usually like this when he meets new people.”

“Nah, it’s okay.” Jason shrugged it off. “I’ve seen a lot of kids who get really protective of people they care about. I meet a lot of them at the library.”

“Oh, do you volunteer there or something?” Dick asked, trying to pretend he hadn’t spent a fair portion of the day trying to find out as much about Jason as he possibly could from his Facebook.

“Yeah, I help kids with reading and their homework and stuff.” Jason said. “It’s not much really, but I still love helping them out and everything.” Dick smiled. He loved how Jason could talk about helping those kids without a hint of pretension. It was worlds different from when he had heard Gotham socialites talking about the charities they constantly set up. Really, he was great. They talked about Jason’s work in the library and the problems that came with teaching troubled children. OR, at least they tried to with Damian interjecting every few minutes to make his distain for Jason clear. It also didn’t help that Dick was also distracted by trying to stop Tim from sending seductive photos of him eating to his boyfriend.

“So, Dick, what’s the plan for after dinner?” Jason asked as they finished up the last of dinner. He slid a hand underneath the table and placed it confidently on Dick’s thigh, earning a small smile from Dick. However, this did not go unnoticed. Almost immediately, Damian jumped up to his feet.

“Get your hands off him, you filthy ingrate!” He grabbed a table knife and pointed it at Jason.

“Damian please,” Dick went to retrieve the knife. “What did I tell you?”

“And _I_ told you that if he touched you, then I wouldn’t hold myself back.” Damian resisted Dick, squirming away from him.

“I know Dami,” Dick continued to attempt to wrestle the knife out of Damian’s grip. “But you can’t solve your problems by stabbing them. Please be polite, you’re making Jason uncomfortable.”

“Nah, it’s alright.” Jason waved a hand dismissively. “I’ve had much worse than a butter knife pointed at me – “

“Table knife, you heathen.” Damian hissed, but Jason ignored the interruption and turned to face him.

“Look buddy, it seems like you really care about your brother, and him having a new person in his life can be kinda intimidating and scary. But it’s okay, I promise I’ll treat him well. And maybe we can hang out sometime so we can get to know each other.” Jason gave Damian a warm smile. Dick grinned too, partially because he found Jason so heartwarming, but also because he had managed to get the knife out of Damian’s grip.

“Not likely.” Damian narrowed his eyes. Dick’s relief was short-lived however, as Damian had picked up a fork and used it to fling a particularly large chunk of an enchilada over at Jason. It landed on his face and slid slowly down his face. For a moment the dining room fell absolutely silent. Even Tim had put his phone down so that he could see what was happening.

“Goddamnit Damian.” Dick sighed. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“I was trying to protect you!”

“You don’t need to protect me, Damian. And you definitely don’t need to attack my guests.” Dick sighed. “Go to bed.”

“But – “

“No buts, Dami. Apologize to Jason and then go straight to bed.” Dick looked more exhausted than stressed, but it seemed like it was enough to make his little brother listen.

“Fine.” Damian scowled. “Sorry. Jason.” Damian spit out an apology and stormed upstairs. Dick watched him go, deciding that perhaps it was better for Damian to have some time to cool down before he went up to talk to him. Instead, he went to help Jason clean himself up. He led Jason to the kitchen, where he leaned against a counter while Jason cleaned himself up.

“I’m sorry about Damian again, really.”

“It’s okay, honestly. He must really care about you.” Jason smiled as he washed his face.

“Yeah.” Dick replied. “Bruce works late a lot so I spend a lot of time looking after my brothers. He’s probably just scared you’re going to take me away from him or something like that. But still, I feel kinda terrible. He ruined your shirt and everything.”

“Don’t worry about it. This’ll come out when I wash it anyways.” Jason looked down at his shirt. “You should have kept yours on. Then we could have matched.” Dick laughed. The night hadn’t started well, but at least now things were starting to look up a little. Maybe he’d make it through the date without any major disaster.

“So, now that dinner is over, what do you want to do now?” Dick took a couple steps closer as Jason moved away from the sink. Jason closed the distance until they faced each other, inches apart.

“I don’t know.” Jason slid an arm around Dick’s waist. “But I have a few ideas.” He leaned in closer to kiss Dick slowly and gently. Dick wrapped his arms around him as he kissed back, sighing softly into Jason’s mouth.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Damian watched from the doorway, his hands scrunching into fists as he saw Dick’s new ‘friend’ sucking his face.


	5. Chapter 5

Dick trailed kisses down Jason’s neck and tightened his grip around his waist. He was about to slip his hand down Jason’s pants before he was interrupted by yelling coming from Damian’s room. Dick sighed and rolled his eyes. He slipped out of Jason’s hold reluctantly and neatened his shirt.

“I gotta go check on him.” Dick said. “You know what, the media room is the second door down the left. If you want, you can head over there and pick out something to watch while I check on Dami.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” Jason smiled and pressed a kiss on Dick’s cheek before they both headed off.

Dick climbed the stairs to find Damian in his room. He sat upright in his bed, with his arms folded. Dick went over and took a seat by Damian’s bedside.

“What’s up, Dami?” Dick asked.

“Read me a bedtime story.” Damian stated, narrowing his eyes.

“Really? I haven’t read you a bedtime story in years. Why do you want one tonight all of a sudden?” Dick asked.

“No reason.” Damian replied quickly. “I just thought it would be nice for you to read to me tonight.”

“Is this about Jason?” Dick asked.

“No, it’s not.” Damian huffed. Dick chuckled and slid over closer. The ran a hand through Damian’s hair and ruffled his hair.

“Damian, you know I’m not gonna suddenly stop spending time with you just because I’m dating someone new. I’m still going to make time for you regardless of whether I’m in a relationship or not.” Dick smiled. “Look, I really think I like Jason, okay. He seems like he’s very nice and I’d really like it if you and Bruce didn’t scare him away as soon as possible.” Damian rolled his eyes.

“Hmph. As if he could actually last long in our family if he can’t put up with me or Father.” Damian snorted. Dick rolled his eyes. Although Damian had a point, Dick still wasn’t going to put up with Damian trying to scare away all his potential partners until he hopefully grew out of his weird, possessive, protective phase. That was, if he did.

“That’s no reason to throw food and point knives at people, Damian.” Dick replied. “I know you want to protect me, but I’m an adult. I think I can look after myself now.”

“Are you sure?” Damian raised an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Dick replied. He fluffed up Damian’s pillow and pressed a kiss against his forehead. “Now how about you get some sleep and we can talk more about this tomorrow?”

“Fine.” Damian sighed, at which point Dick left Damian’s bedroom, closing the door behind him. With Damian hopefully leaving him alone for the rest of the night, he might actually be able to finish his date without any more disasters. However, once he’s left, Damian dug under his blankets until he found his cellphone. He quickly dialed a number and waited.

“Hello Father.”

 ~ ~ ~

Dick headed down the stairs, making his way to the media room. He came to a stop, however, outside the parlour, he came to a stop. Through the doorway, he saw Tim lying on the couch. That wasn’t what bothered him, what was bothering him was the fact that Tim’s shirt was on the floor, and he was holding his cellphone above him, making kissy faces at the screen. Dick sighed and headed into the room.

“Tim, what the hell?” Dick asked. Surprised, Tim dropped his phone, which hit him painfully on his chest.

“Dick!”

“Tim how about you don’t take half naked pictures of yourself.” Dick sighed. “Can you please just put your shirt back on and stop trying to get into your damn boyfriend’s pants.”

“You’re trying to get into yours.” Tim murmured as he wriggled back into his shirt.

“First, Jason isn’t my boyfriend. And second, I’m not sending him shirtless photos.” Dick said. “And besides, what would you do if Bruce found out?”

“I don’t know, what would Bruce do if he found out that you brought a guy who isn’t even your boyfriend over to the manor when you were supposed to be looking after us?” Tim replied. Dick narrowed his eyes, but then relaxed. He knew that he wasn’t going to win the argument, so he might as well walk away before his self confidence was ruined and still manage to enjoy his date.

“Stop taking sexy pictures of yourself.” Dick ended the conversation. “Go do your homework or something.” And with that, he finally headed to the media room. Apart from the Batcave, the media room was probably Bruce’s favourite place in the manor. The walls were painted dark, and panelled with sound insulating foam. Small spotlights were built into the ceiling, which could be dimmed, and almost an entire wall was taken up with a large screen. But the best part of the media room was the large, expensive leather sofas lined up in rows. They resembled sleek black leather chaise lounges, but with the addition of cup holders and fold-away tables. Jason ran his hands over the smooth, expensive leather near his thighs, relaxing into the comfortable chair. When he heard the door open, he looked over the back of the chair, grinning when he saw Dick.

“So, is the little devil asleep yet?” Jason asked playfully.

“Oh, don’t worry. Hopefully he won’t bother us any more.” Dick was about to take a seat. “So what do you want to watch?”

“Is Pride and Prejudice okay?” Jason asked. “I know it’s not really a fun movie, but it’s one of my favourites.”

“Oh, no it sounds great.” Dick smiled. “You didn’t want any popcorn?”

“Uh I can go to the kitchen and grab some if you want.” Jason was about to get up before Dick smiled and shook his head.

“No need.” Dick replied, heading over to the corner and pulling a small trolley towards them,

“You actually have a popcorn machine?” Jason asked incredulously.

“Bruce had a room built specifically for watching movies.” Dick said as he filled up the machine with kernels. “It’s a little over the top, I know. But Bruce really loves movies.” He took a seat next to Jason and relaxed back into the chair. He grabbed the remote and turned the screen on, opening up Netflix. He flicked through the options until he finally found the Pride and Prejudice movie. Before hitting play, he checked on the popcorn. Dick grabbed a bowl from the bottom of trolley and scooped popcorn into it. He added a liberal amount of melted butter and stirred before he brought it back to them. He sat down, smiling when Jason reached over to grab a handful of popcorn and stuff it into his mouth. Dick hit play and they both settled in to watch the start of the movie.

One of the best benefits of the fancy leather chairs was the fact that when next to each other, they made a kind of sofa. Half an hour into the movie, Dick noticed just how close Jason was to him. Even though he had an arm wrapped around Dick’s shoulder, Jason’s gaze was focused on the movie in front of them. What was just as interesting as the movie was watching Jason’s expression. The way surprise or joy spread across his face through the duration of the film was incredible. And it was amazing that Jason could still look so surprised or shocked even though he had probably seen Pride and Prejudice a bunch of times, judging by the way that he was mouthing half of the lines under his breath. Dick snuggled up closer to him, taking in the warm scent of his aftershave. He leaned his head up and pressed a kiss to Jason’s jaw. Jason smiled down at him.

“You getting bored?”

“Not while you’re here.” Dick nuzzled Jason’s neck. Jason chuckled and tilted his head back. He ran a hand gently through Dick’s silky black hair, twirling the locks between his fingers while he watched the movie.

But soon enough, even the movie couldn’t keep Dick’s attention away from Jason sitting next to him. He wriggled on the fine leather, getting antsy. As much as he wished he did, he really didn’t share Jason’s passion for English literature, and soon he found it hard to focus on the old-fashioned language and long dialogues. Jason was completely enrapt, focused entirely on the film apart from the one hand running through Dick’s hair. Dick squirmed even more against him, but Jason’s attention was still solely focused on the movie.  He frowned, rolling over so that he could press his body against Jason’s, pressing his crotch gently to Jason’s hips, and attempting to tangle their legs together. Still no dice. Jason didn’t even give Dick a glance. With newfound determination, Dick began to place kisses up and down Jason’s neck, glancing up at Jason every few seconds for any sign of a reaction. This time, he at least managed to get a small smile. However, he wasn’t sure if that was from the kisses or from the movie. He frowned, rolling over so that he could press his body against Jason’s, pressing his crotch gently to Jason’s hips, and attempting to tangle their legs together. Still no dice. Jason didn’t even give Dick a glance. With newfound determination, Dick began to place kisses up and down Jason’s neck, glancing up at Jason every few seconds for any sign of a reaction. This time, he at least managed to get a small smile. However, he wasn’t sure if that was from the kisses or from the movie. Breaking out the big guns, Dick leaned over towards Jason even more, pressing his crotch quite deliberately into Jason's hip. But alas, Jason's attention could not be drawn away from the screen in front of them.

Dick must have sat patiently for about five or ten minutes, watching Jason watch the movie, before he needed a distraction. He picked a very buttery kernel of popcorn and flicked it towards his date, hitting him square on the cheek.

“Huh?” Jason turned to face him. At least Dick had managed to get his attention now. Jason reached up to his cheek and felt the traces of butter left by the projectile popcorn. Confused, he looked down and found the offending kernel nestled in the valley made by their bodies leaning together. He picked up the kernel and examined it in the dim light for a few seconds.

“Did you just throw this at me?”

“Um. Maybe.” Dick admitted sheepishly.

“Why?” Jason asked, more confused than angry.

“You weren't paying attention to me.” Dick pouted. Jason snorted with laughter.

“What?”

“I don't know. You weren't paying attention to me, so I had to try and get you to somehow.”

“And what exactly so desperately needed my attention that you had to throw food at me? Honestly, I can see where your brother gets it from.” Jason joked.

“Uh, maybe that you're really cute when you're watching a movie you like?” Jason laughed. He picked a kernel of popcorn and flicked it at Dick, hitting his chest.

“There. Now we're even.”

“You’re gonna make me change my shirt again.” Dick said playfully, grabbing a small handful of popcorn and flinging it at Jason. He sprayed popcorn across Jason’s torso, decorating his shirt in small butter stains. Jason looked down at his shirt and chuckled.

“Oh, now you’ve done it.” Jason grabbed a large handful of popcorn and sprinkled it on top of Dick, filling his hair with crumbs and butter. Dick laughed as he shook the largest crumbs from his hair. With the movie now completely forgotten, the two engaged in flinging popcorn at each other, covering each other and the expensive leather chairs in a salty, buttery mess.

Trying for a win, Jason snatched the bowl of popcorn and rolled away. He hid behind the edge of the chair, enjoying the cover. But Dick, determined, wasn’t going to let Jason win without a fight. When Jason ducked behind the chairs, Dick hurried back to the popcorn machine left in the corner. Jason may have gotten good ground, but Dick had the ammo. He scooped popcorn out of the machine with his hands, and the two flung popcorn at each other. They laughed and yelled as they ran around the room, trying to cover each other with popcorn. Once Jason ran out of popcorn, he tried to make for the popcorn machine to reload. Dick stood in the way, blocking him like a basketball player trying to block a shot.

“No!” Dick laughed as he attempted to keep Jason from the machine. After trying to get past Dick’s block for a few moments, Jason decided to switch tactics. He threw aside the popcorn bowl and wrapped his arms around Dick’s waist, lifting the shorter man up. Dick wriggled his legs, but made no attempt to escape from Jason’s hold, instead content to flick more popcorn into his hair and clothes.

With Dick in his grip, Jason made his way back to the popcorn covered chairs, and laid Dick down on the couch. When he attempted to pull away, Dick held on to Jason with a tight grip. He pulled him back down for a kiss. Jason moaned as Dick ran his tongue over his lips. Dick ran his hands through Jason’s hair, curling his fingers in his black and white locks. He coaxed Jason onto the couch with him with whispers and soft kisses. Dick kissed and licked up and down Jason’s neck, his hands pushing Jason’s jacket off of his shoulders. It fell in a heap behind him, completely forgotten. Jason ran his hands across Dick’s shirt, sliding experimentally down closer to his hips. Dick urged him with moans and wandering hands, slipping his hands down the back of Jason’s pants. Jason’s hand slid up Dick’s tight shirt, sighing as he felt his warm, smooth skin hiding hard muscle beneath. He leaned down again to kiss Dick again, sliding his tongue into Jason’s open mouth. They were both so enrapt, they barely even noticed the lights in the room brightening, only looking up when Jason noticed a shadow looming over him.

“Hello. I don’t believe we’ve met before.” The new voice make both of them freeze. They both looked up. A man in his forties, with thin wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and forehead stood before them. He wore an immaculate black suit and tie, his jet black hair neatly parted. Despite his calm demeanour, his blue eyes burned with rage. Jason quickly sat up, removing his hands from Dick and holding them up in a sign of surrender.

“Um, Mr. Wayne – Sir. Sorry.” Jason managed to choke out. He watched Bruce’s gaze shift from him, to the popcorn strewn around the room, and then to Dick lying on the chair with his shirt ridden almost completely up his torso. Dick shifted into a sitting position, pulled his shirt down and turned to Bruce.

“Hey Bruce,” Dick smiled, trying not to break under his adoptive father’s burning glare. “This is Jason.”

“Hello Jason, do you mind telling me what you’re doing with my son?”

“Sorry, Sir. We were watching a movie and we kinda got a little uh – carried away.” Jason rubbed his neck nervously.

“Bruce, please.” Dick narrowed his eyes. “We were just watching a movie.”

“Oh really?” Bruce raised an eyebrow. “That’s not what it looks like.” His eyes went to Jason again.

“Please, I invited him over for a date, is that such a big deal?”

“You were supposed to be taking care of your brothers!”

“Well it would be nice if I found that out before I came home from work!”

“That’s still no reason to trash my media room.”

“We didn’t _trash_ anything.” Dick replied. “Why are you so up your own ass about this?”

“Jason,” Bruce turned to face Jason, his voice filled with poisonous politeness. “I think it’s best if you go home now.” Jason didn’t wait another moment. He hurried out of the room, leaving Dick and Bruce staring each other down amid the messy media room.


	6. Chapter 6

“What the hell, Bruce?”

“Don’t ‘What the hell Bruce’ me. I can’t believe you brought some random guy over and trashed my media room when you were meant to be watching over your brothers. I would have expected you to be more responsible by now.” Bruce looked down disaffectedly at the popcorn which littered the floor. “What the hell has gotten into you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it was the fact that you decided to dump Dami and Tim on me without telling me?” Dick retorted. “Did you ever think that I might actually have had plans for tonight? And he’s not just some random guy. His name is Jason, and I really like him.”

“I _thought_ that you would probably cancel them when you realised that you had something more important to do.” Bruce replied. “You should have been taking care of your brothers, not trying to get laid on my expensive custom couches.”

“Well _you_ should have at least called me or something to actually tell me in person that you wanted me to babysit. What the hell was I supposed to do? Just sit around waiting for you to make your plans every day before I can decide what I want to do?”

“You’re my eldest son, Dick. By the time I was your age, I’d already adopted you. That comes with responsibilities, Dick.” Bruce replied. Dick took a deep breath, clenching his hands into fists.

“You’re not listening to me. This isn’t about whether I’m responsible or not, Bruce. If you would have told me in advance I would have changed my plans in a second and you know that. The problem is that _you_ didn’t tell me.”

“But then why didn’t you reschedule once you found out?”

“I don’t know, maybe because I was already so pissed at you I didn’t care any more. Maybe _like I already said before_ , I really care about this guy.” Dick could feel a tension headache in his forehead blooming. “For God’s sake Bruce, don’t you ever think about people other than you?”

“I do! Why do you think I’m doing this? I don’t have some selfish desire to keep you away from every man around your age that you see. How many times do I have to tell you that I’m just protecting you?”

“And how many times do I have to tell you that I don’t need your protection? I’m a fucking adult Bruce, I can handle myself.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes!”

“So that time you and Roy nearly got arrested, you didn’t need my protection?” Bruce asked.

“Bruce, that wasn’t even my fault!” Dick protested.

“And what difference does that make? I got a call in the middle of the night telling me that you and Roy had gotten caught in a drug bust. What the hell was I supposed to think? Dick, you don’t make good decisions when it comes to men. How the hell am I not supposed to be concerned about your or your safety?”

“Bruce, I admit that I needed help with all that shit that was going on between me and Roy, but that was different. It’s not like every boyfriend I’ve had has been a drug addict. But that is no reason for you to carry on treating me like a kid! I don’t need you watching over my shoulder for my whole life.”

“Dick please,” Bruce let out a sigh. “I just want what’s best for you, okay?”

“And I do too.” Dick replied. “But I want to live my life as well, Bruce.”

“I’m not saying you can’t, Dick. I’m just saying that you need to be careful.” Dick sighed, pushing past Bruce on his way to the door.

“Look, I’m not just going to stand around and argue with you about this. You should have fucking called me, and I’m not going to stop seeing Jason, just because you don’t trust my judgement.” Dick replied, turning to give his adoptive father surrounded by buttery popcorn a harsh glare. “Goodnight.”

“Dick! At least come and help clean this up!” Bruce called after him, but received no reply. He sighed and made to begin picking up the leftover kernels of popcorn strewn all over the floor.

~ ~ ~

Dick headed up to his room, and collapsed on his bed, letting out a groan as he hit the soft sheets. He was tired. After spending a whole day at work followed by an evening consumed with looking after his brothers, he was pretty much beat. He did love his brothers, and he did love to look after them from time to time, but with Damian going through some weird attachment phase and Tim’s newly discovered sexuality, it really wasn’t that much fun right now.

In his warm room, despite being fully dressed in his tight jeans and soiled shirt, and the fact that there was probably still popcorn stuck in his hair, he was starting to fall asleep. Once he had just fallen asleep, however, he was awoken abruptly by his cellphone buzzing. He groaned and rolled over, feeling around his bedside table for his phone before he realised that it was still in his pocket. He groaned again and reached for his back pocket, pulling out his phone. A smile spread across his face when he saw Jason’s name on the screen.

  * _[JASON] Sorry abt tonight, hope you didn’t get in too much trouble with your dad <3_



Dick grinned. He hurriedly wrote out a reply.

  * _[DICK] It’s ok. He was probably cranky from working late_
  * _[JASON] I don’t think I made a very good impression on him_
  * _[DICK] Don’t worry about it. He never likes any of the people I date anyways._
  * _[DICK] But honestly, I really had a great time tonight_
  * _[JASON] Me too_
  * _[DICK] We should definitely go on another date sometime_
__



	7. Chapter 7

Dick spent the next day, once again, at Wayne Industries. He hadn’t spoken to Bruce at all, ignoring his calls and messages. Instead, he attempted to focus on the proposals he’d been given for the next charitable organization’s project the company was going to donate to. “Attempt” was the keyword, as he really couldn’t focus very hard on whether donating money to open new libraries or to save pandas would be more appealing to the public eye. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. Last night _had_ been a disaster. There was no other word for it. Jason had left the manor covered in food (which was only partially Dick’s fault) and probably scared shitless by Bruce. He only hoped that somehow, his father and brother had not scared him off. Although, given their track record of scaring off suitors, it seemed unlikely.

“Mr. Grayson?” Dick’s train of thought was interrupted by his personal assistant Melissa, who opened his office door a crack and poked her head inside. “There’s a man out here who says he has your lunch order?”

“But I didn’t order anything.” Dick furrowed his brow.

“I know,” Melissa nodded. “Should I call security?”

“Hold on a sec.” Dick stopped Melissa before she could leave. He’d known Roy to use that line either when he wanted to stop by for a visit without too many people finding out, or if he wanted to send something to Dick that he _really_ didn’t want people finding out about. God, he hoped that Roy wasn’t going to send him another one of his “special deliveries” fresh from Colombia. The last thing he needed right now was to give Bruce more ammunition with another closely missed drug bust. “Can you ask for a name?”

“Alright, Mr. Grayson.” Melissa slipped out of the doorway to talk to whoever it was claiming to bring him food. She was back after a few seconds.

“He says his name is Jason, and that he thought you would like eating enchiladas more than wearing them.” A warm smile spread across Dick’s face.

“Let him in, and if my father asks, he was never here, okay?.” Melissa paused for a moment, as if she could have somehow interpreted his answer wrong, but then disappeared, only to be replaced by Jason, carrying a cardboard drinks tray with a couple of sodas, and a white plastic bag. Dick smiled and got to his feet, walking over to place a hand on Jason’s hip and kissing him on the cheek.

“What are you doing here?” Dick asked, hooking his fingers around Jason’s belt loops and pulling his hips towards him.

“One of my classes got cancelled today, so I thought that I’d drop by and say hi.” Jason leaned into Dick’s touch, letting himself be held for a few moments. Eventually, Jason slipped out of Dicks’ hold to place the food and drinks down on Dick’s desk.

“You know, you didn’t have to bring me lunch. I could have had Melissa go and pick something up.” Dick said as he took a seat back at his desk.

“It’s okay.” Jason sat down across from him and opened the plastic bag. He took out two Styrofoam boxes, placing one in front of Dick, and another in front of himself. “I thought I’d treat you to something to make up for last night’s disaster.” Jason chuckled.

 

“Don’t worry about it. It was kinda my fault too.” Dick replied, opening the lid of the styrofoam box and inhaling the scent of cheese, chilies and cumin. He grabbed one of the plastic forks from the bottom of the bag and stuck it in, taking a big bite. “I should have at least warned you about Dami, or Bruce for that matter. I promise, they aren’t as bad once you get to know them, but they’re just a little -- uh --”

 

“Overprotective?” Jason offered through a mouthful of spicy beef enchilada.

 

“Yeah,” Dick nodded. “They mean the best though,” he added, unsure if it was more to convince Jason, or himself, “they really do.” Jason nodded, either out of politeness or agreement, and went back to his lunch.

 

“So, what are you working on there?” Jason asked, looking down at the files of project proposals piled haphazardly all over Dick’s desk. With his mouth full, Jason plucked a folder from Dick’s desk and flipped through it. “Donating science equipment to inner-city schools. Sounds cool.”

 

“Yeah, I’m supposed to be going through all these proposals and picking which one Wayne Industries is going to fund next. I’m absolutely swamped, though.” Dick pulled up another proposal, and flicked through it. This one was to fund Gotham’s animal shelters and promote pet adoption. Damian would love that one.

 

“Ooh,” Jason commented as he picked up another folder. “Here’s one for opening a cultural centre and a historical conservation program for Romani people. A little niche, but still pretty neat.” Jason was about to put the folder aside, before Dick grabbed it. He leafed through it, gazing at the carefully composed pictures and text.

 

“This looks…” Dick’s voice trailed off as he looked at a picture of a young Roma couple getting married.

 

“I didn’t know you were so big on historical conservation.” Jason studied Dick’s expression carefully.

 

“I’m not. Well, not usually.” Dick didn’t look up from the proposal. “But I am Romani, and I know that my mom would have loved to see something like this.”

 

“Really? I didn’t know that.”

 

“Well, to be fair only the really trashy gossip magazines talk about it anymore, but back when I first got adopted, it was a huge deal.” Dick explained. Back then, every newspaper and magazine in Gotham wouldn’t stop speculating about the random Gypsy kid billionaire Bruce a Wayne had decided to adopt. The rumours ranged from Dick being Bruce’s long-lost secret lovechild to Bruce being blackmailed with an evil curse. He was pretty sure he still had that article saved somewhere. It was hilarious.

 

“You should donate to it then.” Jason took another big bite.

 

“I’d love to but I couldn’t.”

 

“Why not? They’re not asking for nearly as much money as the other ones.” Jason asked.

 

“I can’t just pick whichever one I like the best, Jason.” Dick sighed. “I have to pick the one that’s going to look the best in the public eye. And as much as I’d want to, I really don’t think that people are going to take too kindly to us supporting anything to do with Romani people.” He placed the folder to one side, and picked up one more likely to please Gotham’s citizens, helping schools to serve more healthy lunches. Absorbed in reading the project outline, he almost didn’t notice Jason freeze, sticking his plastic fork back into his takeout container of enchiladas with force.

 

“So you’re just going to not help them because it doesn’t look good for the company?” He asked, his voice strained.

 

“Oh no, we’ll still make a donation.” Dick did not look up from the folder. “Just probably privately and with less attention. Don’t want to attract too much media attention to it.”

 

“You didn’t seem to care that much what the media thought when we met at that charity gala.” Jason’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure you’re so different from every other fake-ass business person around here?” Dick stopped, snapping the folder shut.

 

“Jason please, if I could have my own way, I would put as much money into that project as I possibly could. But I have to make a choice based on what’s best for the company.”

 

“What happened to not being like all the other people? Actually doing something to make a difference?”

 

“I’m trying, Jason. Really. But I can’t make a choice that’s going to be that unpopular. And it’s not like I’m just not going to help them out.” Dick replied. “I just can’t associate it with Wayne Industries.” Jason remained unimpressed.

 

“Well, you could just tell your dad and all those other executives to suck and go with it. “ He suggested.

 

“Jason -- “

 

“And besides, all publicity is good publicity anyways, right? You could really get people talking about the issue, you know.” Jason wasn’t exactly wrong there, Dick thought. It definitely would draw considerable media attention both to Wayne Industries and Romani issues. It was risky, but if it worked, it could really work in their favour. No matter how the public took it, there was no denying that there would be significantly more media coverage than any other charity initiative that they had ever undertook. If Dick played it right, he could really pull it off and impress Bruce and get some attention to Romani issues. His mother would be proud.

 

“You know what?” Dick replied. He leaned over to pick the report back up off of his desk and flipped through it again. It really did seem like the perfect choice. He smiled. “Fuck it. I’ll do it. If Bruce doesn’t like it, he can just suck it.” Maybe it was Jason influencing him, or maybe it was because he was already so done with Bruce’s interfering. It just felt so good to stick it to him in ways only Dick could. It was kind of euphoric, and he really didn’t want it to end any time soon.

 

“So Jason,” Dick began as he finished off the last of his lunch. “What time do you have to be back in class?”

 

“Oh, I don’t have class for a couple other hours, so don’t worry about it. I don’t have to rush to go anywhere else.” Jason replied. “I can hang here for a while if you want. I mean, your office is nicer than my apartment.” _Perfect._

 

“It’s great, yeah. But honestly I get bored of sitting couped up in here all day.” Dick carefully piled all the rejected applications over one one side of his desk and set down the accepted project on the other. “Do you want to go grab some coffee or something? I know a really great place.”

 

“Sure.” Jason replied, and then dug his hands into his pockets. “I’m sure I had my subway pass on me somewhere.”

 

“It’s alright.” Dick stood up to leave. “You got to show off your ride to me when we first met. Now it’s my turn.” With a smile, he headed towards the door, motioning for Jason to follow him. Nodding at his PA as he left, Dick took Jason through Wayne Industries modernistic floor plan. They took the elevator down to the basement garage, Jason ignoring the dirty looks that others in the elevator seemed to be giving him. Whatever. It was probably his hair or something else that made him stand out too much. Eventually, Dick led Jason to the front of the garage, where the executives parked their cars which were really not much more than penis extensions in his opinion. Dick stopped beside a convertible BMW that probably was worth more money than Jason would ever be able to earn in his life. He examined the sleek, aerodynamic shape of the car, painted a strange shade that seemed to change from blue to purple to black as he moved around it. Jason’s fingers hovered centimeters above the body, slightly afraid to touch it.

 

“You like the paint job?” Dick asked as he unlocked the car and got into the driver’s seat. “Iridescent paint. It was custom. Looks cool doesn’t it?”

 

“Yeah.” Jason commented, still in awe as he slid into the comfortable black leather seat. God, he was out of his league here. Going out for coffee with a billionaire. Well, the son of a billionaire. Didn’t really make a difference, either way. This guy was loaded, and for some reason willing to spend time and money on him.

 

The coffee shop turned out to be a small hipstery cafe close to the heart of downtown Gotham, which was comforting. At least it wasn’t some high-end coffee place where business meetings happened and Jason would have stuck out like a sore thumb even more. The cafe itself actually looked pretty good. A bookshelf spread across one whole wall, with cosy looking antique armchairs grouped near tables in the main space of the floor. If the coffee wasn’t so damn overpriced, Jason could have seen himself coming here for a hot drink and to read every now and again.

 

Apparently Dick was a regular, as when the barista saw him, she smiled and waved at him. “Hey Mr. Grayson, how are you doing today?”

 

“I’m well Kelsey, and how are you?”

 

“Not bad, my grandma’s feeling better though.”

 

“That’s good to hear, send her my wishes will you?”

 

“Sure thing, now what can I get for you?”

 

“Uh, I’ll have an iced latte with four caramel pumps, whipped cream and then a caramel and chocolate drizzle and chocolate chips on the top please.” Dick placed his sugar-laden order. “And what are you going to have, Jason?”

 

“Uh,” Jason scanned the menu for something reasonably priced. “I’ll just get a cappuccino please.”

 

“Alright, that’ll be twelve seventy.” The barista read out the price. Dick simply pulled out his platinum American Express card and paid before Jason even had a chance to reach for his wallet. Damn that sucker was fast.

 

“You already got me lunch, I’m not going to let you pay for coffee too.” They carried their drinks to a small antique coffee table, and sat down in the armchairs, which were even more comfortable than they looked. Jason took a sip of his coffee and sighed. The expensive coffee did indeed taste a lot better than the shitty stuff he was used to.

 

“So,” Dick poked his straw into his drink and swirled it around, “You’re an English Lit major right? What do you like to read?”

 

“Well, I love the classics.” Jason replied. “You know, Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights. That sort of stuff.” Dick then launched Jason into a deep conversation about English literature. Without having read most of the books Jason talked about since high school, Dick spent most of his time smiling and nodding along. It was worth it, though. The way Jason’s eyes lit up and his every movement became more animated filled his heart with joy.

 

“God, you’re so cute when you talk about books, you know.” Dick said.

 

“Oh really? Because you’re cute all the time.” Jason replied with a smirk. Dick laughed and leaned in for a kiss. Jason met him halfway, pressing their lips together, enjoying the taste and feel of Dick’s warm, sweet lips. The kiss barely lasted a second before a flash of light coming from the window distracted the both of them.

 

“Oh, fuck.” Dick whispered as he looked outside. Standing in the window of the coffee shop was a short man, dressed in all black and carrying a large camera around with him. Great. Nothing screamed romantic like ending a date with the paparazzi rushing behind you.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“It’s nothing.” Dick replied quickly. “It’s just the paparazzi, we should probably leave though. C’mon, I’ll drive you back to your apartment.” He promptly got up, and with Jason in tow, hurried back to his car. Dick sped most of the way to Jason’s place, paying little heed to speed limits.

 

“Dick,” Jason put his hand in front of him on the dashboard cautiously. “Why do you need to speed so much? I mean, they’re just taking pictures of us. What’s the big deal?”

 

“It’s not so much the pictures, it’s the articles that’ll come out afterwards that I’m more worried about.” Dick was now parked directly in front of Jason’s apartment.

 

“Are they that bad?” Jason asked.

 

“Sometimes. It might be fine, but sometimes they tend to blow the tiny things out of proportion.” Dick replied. “You should have seen how much of a shitstorm they put out when they first saw me out with a guy. But honestly, we hopefully should have avoided the most of it. I’m really sorry about cutting today short though.”

 

“Don’t worry about it. I needed to head to class soon anyways.”

 

“Are you sure you don’t need me to drop you off?” Dick asked. Jason bit his lip for a moment in thought.

 

“Sure.”

 

~ ~ ~

 

By the time Dick had gotten back to Wayne Industries, he had twelve missed calls from Bruce. Expecting another long rant to follow yesterday’s, he called him back.

 

“Hey, Bruce.” Dick began.

 

“Gotham Gazette. Now.” Bruce replied tersely.

 

“What?”

 

“Get on your laptop. Look at the headlines.” And so Dick did as he was told. The photographs from his date with Jason were already up, accompanied with a title.

 

**WAYNE HEIR DICK GRAYSON CAUGHT WITH SPICY NEW LATINO BOYFRIEND?**


	8. Chapter 8

“Really, Bruce?” Dick sighed. “You’re mad at me now because of a gossip column headline? That’s stretching it out pretty thin, even for you.”

  
“I would show you the others, but they weren’t as savoury.” Bruce replied. Dick frowned. Intrigued, he opened up a new tab on his laptop and searched for “Dick Grayson new boyfriend”, and what followed was an outpouring of trashy news sites and gossip blogs. Hardly the most refined sources of media around. Although he could see Bruce’s point. These articles did not best around the bush, with half of them accusing Jason of being an illegal immigrant, and the other half suggesting Dick was some kind of sugar daddy. Either way, it was not a pretty picture. He clicked on an article at random, curious.

**What’s the scoop on Dick Grayson’s new boyfriend? Is he another A-list heir, ready to form Gotham’s hottest new power couple? Not quite, no. Say hello to Jason Todd, and if you’re wondering if you’ve heard of that name before, you haven’t. Surprisingly enough, Jason is actually a student at Gotham University. With a little bit of detective work, we found out that he works as a waiter, is Mexican and both of his parents have charged with drug-related crimes at least once. So what caused this interesting break in Dick’s pattern of dating high class socialites? Did he just want to find himself a bad boy? Has he followed the sugar daddy path of his adopted father? Or is there something darker afoot? One theory found …**

Dick stopped reading after that. The rest of the article rambled off into half-baked conspiracy theories with questionable evidence. Apparently Dick was getting involved in both an underground drug ring, and smuggling immigrants across the border using Wayne Industries resources.

  
“Dick?” Dick almost jumped at the voice emanating from his cellphone lying on his desk. He must have forgotten about Bruce.

  
“Yeah, I’m still here.” Dick answered. “So there’s a bunch of gossip going around. That happens pretty much any time I date someone new.”

  
“Yes, but unfounded as all these accusations may be, they still have an impact. Do you know how much our stocks have dropped in the last hour? We were already in hot water after that fiasco last month with the self driving car prototype. Did you really need to do this right now?”

  
“Bruce! It’s not like I planned to get caught! I just went out with him for coffee, that’s all. It’s not like I made a public statement saying I was going to spend the rest of my life with him or something.”

  
“No. No that’s right.” Bruce muttered, more to himself than Dick. “This can still be salvageable without the company taking too much of a hit. I want a meeting with the three of us. As soon as possible. Tonight. Email me when it’s done.” The call cut off. Dick leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. One day, he would be used to Bruce talking to him as if he were his assistant, but that was not today. He took a deep breath before he unlocked his phone again.

  
“Hey, Jay?” Dick began as Jason picked up his call.

  
“Dickie! Hey!” Jason replied. “Sorry, I can’t talk, I have a class that’s starting in like, two minutes.”

  
“Okay, but before you go I just have to ask you one thing, quick.”

  
“Alright. Shoot.”

  
“Bruce wants to talk to you. Are you free tonight?”

  
“Wait what? What’s all this even about?”

  
“The media’s putting out some things about us, and he wants to meet to figure some stuff out.”

  
“Really? We can’t just let them go off and say whatever they want?” Jason asked.

  
“Please.” Dick sighed. “This could really have an impact on the company. We kinda have to do this.”

  
“Fine.” Jason answered. “Is seven good?”

  
“Yeah.” Dick replied without even checking Bruce’s schedule. Let him cancel a meeting or two for this. It was the least he could do. Boring business stuff took up most of the rest of Dick’s work day. He read a couple other articles about his and Jason’s relationship. Whoever these journalists were, either they were really good at making stuff up, or they needed promotions for the amount of research they’d managed to do in such a short period of time. He’d had no idea about Jason’s parents who, based on the articles, seemed to have both been charged with some minor drug related charges. He still didn’t know how much of what he was reading was true, and how much was completely fictional, but it was still odd to see such big things about him that Jason hadn’t even mentioned.

  
Whatever. Dick forced himself to stop before he ended up spending all day reading trashy gossip columns about himself and actually do some work. He really threw himself into his paperwork. The usually hated task provided a distraction that prevented him from trying to fall any deeper down the rumour reading rabbit hole, or worrying too much about what Bruce was going to ask of him.

  
But eventually, the day ended and it was time to go home. Since for once, Bruce wasn’t staying late, they got home at the same time. Once back at the manor, Bruce headed straight to his study without even a word to Dick. Tim and Damian were already there, each supposedly doing their homework, leaving the manor unusually quiet. He headed up to his bedroom, tugging his tie off and slipping out of his suit jacket. Checking his phone for messages, he noticed an abundant amount from Roy. He scrolled up to read what must have been at least forty messages, featuring Roy’s typically frequent and likely to be drug induced mood swings. The messages featured Roy being bored, talking about some new guy he was dating, being mad at Oliver for some inane reason, and then planning a party because he was mad at Oliver and he was bored and he wanted to get it on with the new guy he was dating.

  
**Thanks for the invite, but I don’t think I’ll be coming.** Dick typed out a quick reply.

  
**Oh why :(** The response came back almost instantly. Roy had definitely hadn’t been into the office at all today, which now that Dick thought about it, was probably the reason why Oliver was so damn angry at him.

  
**The media MAY have found out about me and Jason, and Bruce really isn’t so happy about it**

**  
So?**

**  
So I don’t want to make Bruce any more pissed than he already is.**

**  
C’mon, what are you gonna do? The media already knows about you two.**

**You might as well enjoy it.**

**  
I really shouldn’t throw more fuel onto the fire, you know.**

**  
Please??? It’ll be fun! I got a new speaker system, and I got a fresh delivery of some other high quality entertainment ;)** Dick pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew where this was going.

  
**You know how badly that ended last time.**

 **  
It’ll be fine! No cops this time, I promise! Just a whole load of fun.** Dick narrowed his eyes disbelievingly.

  
**Fine. I’ll come. But just to make sure that you don’t do something stupid.  
<3 Make sure you bring your new boo. Can’t wait to meet him.**

  
Dick sighed and threw his phone back onto his bed. The last thing he needed right now was for Roy to start acting up again. Roy had been one of his best friends since he had first been adopted, and was really one of the only people in the world Dick knew would understand what it felt like to grow up they way they did. He really did want the best for him, even though half the time, Roy didn’t even want the best for himself. Dick dragged his hand through his hair. So much for having some downtime before his dreaded meeting with Jason and Bruce.

  
Dick opened his laptop and began searching for addiction centres in Gotham. Of course, Roy would probably never actually go to one. Dick would just get a call from Oliver, telling him that a maid had found a bunch of crumpled up flyers about addiction and rehabilitation centres in Roy’s trash. But again, Dick wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he acted otherwise.

  
His research was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Well, now the time had come. He closed the lid of his laptop and headed down to Bruce’s study, where Jason would have no doubt been directed to.

  
Bruce sat in his leather wingback chair, behind his antique mahogany desk, his elbows resting on the desk with his fingertips pressed together. Jason, meanwhile sat in one of Bruce’s other chairs, scrolling through his phone. Bruce looked up upon Dick’s entrance.

  
“Dick,” He said. “Come in, take a seat.” Dick sat down next to Jason, and gave him a small smile. In response, Jason slid his arm across and took Dick’s hand. The tight, slightly clammy grasp gave away Jason’s nervousness. He squeezed Jason’s hand in return.

  
“So,” Bruce continued. “I’m sure that both of you by now have seen the articles that have been going around today.”

  
“Look,” Jason began. “I know what this is about and I promise, I don’t have any ties to any drug dealers or anything like that. My parents, yes, but not me. They just want to focus on that because, well, you know…” He trailed off.

  
“Listen, Jason. I’m not going to accuse you of anything.” Bruce replied. Sure, Dick thought, he’ll just find his criminal record and hire a bunch of private investigators first, and then come out with a bunch of accusations. “And I don’t want you to think that I’m in any way prejudiced against you because of your race. I just want to find a solution to this which will quiet the media down.”

  
“So what do you think we should do?” Jason asked.

  
“For now? Well it’s too late to suggest keeping anything on the down low. Even if we do that people will be hunting for information. Jason, you spend quite a bit of your time volunteering with inner-city kids, right?”

  
“Uh, yeah.” Jason began, shifting in his seat “How did you -- “

  
“Good. Keep that up. Wayne Industries will make a sizeable donation to those charities.”

  
“Thanks, I’m sure they’d really appreciate that.” Jason’s comment did not pause the flow of Bruce’s speech.  
“And then at some point Dick and I will put in a couple appearances, but we don’t have to worry about that for now. We ought to get you to make a few appearances at some galas and such, just to build you up a more positive public image.”

  
“Uh, I don’t know if I’m ready to --”

  
“I’ll get Dick to collect your email and other contact information and pass it on to my secretary. In the meantime, will you two please try to keep out of public sight and behave well until all this calms down?”

  
“Of course, Bruce.” DIck rolled his eyes.

“Can we leave now?” Bruce glowered at the two of them before a few more seconds, before nodding and turning back to his laptop screen, frowning while he typed. Dick got up to leave, tugging a bewildered Jason out of his seat.

  
“Does he always talk like he’s the only person in the room?” Jason asked as Dick led him past the library.

  
“Yeah, don’t worry about it. He doesn’t mean any harm. He just tends to do that when he gets worked up.”

  
“Oh, sorry about that. I mean this whole thing is kinda my fault anyways.” Jason shrugged.

  
“It isn’t your fault, Jason.”

  
“It kind of is.” Jason let Dick lead him upstairs to his bedroom. “They probably wouldn’t be coming after you so hard if you were dating some other rich socialite.”

  
“Jay, they’d be coming after me regardless of who I dated.” Dick replied. “Really, don’t worry about it. If anything it’s my fault. I should have expected this, and been better about keeping our relationship under wraps until we were both ready to come out in the public about it.” Jason paused halfway up the grand staircase, his hand going limp in Dick’s palm.

  
“Were you — were you not ready to be seen in public with me?” _Of course he wasn’t._ Jason thought. _He’s a fucking millionaire, he can’t be seen with a street rat without people asking questions. You guys hooked up a couple of times, and now since you got caught by the paparazzi you’re in a “relationship”. Don’t kid yourself._

  
“It’s not that.” Dick smiled, running his thumb over Jason’s hand. “I just would have liked to be able to hang out in peace for a little while longer without being harassed by the press everywhere we go. Now come on. Alfred isn’t going to let you leave without having dinner, so you have to stay for that.”

  
“I don’t know.” Jason smiled. “The last time we had dinner it didn’t really end too well.” Dick chuckled.

  
“Don’t worry. Dami’s staying over at a friends house tonight, and Tim is eating on his own because he has a project to work on. It’ll be just us.”

  
“What about your dad?”

  
“He’ll probably have dinner in his study tonight. Don’t worry about it.” Jason smiled and let Dick continue leading him to his room. He felt like “don’t worry” was becoming some sort of mantra of Dick’s. Which, to be fair he could see why. He’d read about the huge drop in Wayne Industries stock today, and it wasn’t hard to figure out what had caused it. And on top of that, the media had already found out about his parents. That had been bad. He’d never been one to talk openly about his parents and their pasts, having it blasted all over the media was the last thing he needed. Especially when he was about to start looking for a teaching assistant position for the next academic year. He just hoped that they stopped there, and that they lost interest in him. He just didn’t know what he would do if they looked further into his past and found out even more about him. If that happened, not only could he say goodbye to a teaching assistant position, but goodbye to Dick and maybe even his place at school. And there was no way he was going to let that happen.


	9. Chapter 9

Jason let Dick drag him up two flights of stairs to his bedroom. The upper floors of the manor, he noticed, we just as lavishly decorated as the rest, with chandeliers and silk curtains everywhere he looked. Dick’s bedroom was no exception. Everything in the room looked like it cost more than Jason could ever make, from fine furs draped casually over the bed and other furniture, to the antique wooden furniture that Jason was almost too afraid to touch. 

“Wow.” Was all Jason said as he took in the balcony which gave an incredible view of the garden.

“It’s a bit much, isn’t it?” Dick smiled. “I don’t know, if it were me, I’d go for something a little more modern, but Bruce likes his antiques.” Jason nodded, still standing awkwardly at the doorway. 

“Come on,” Dick pulled Jason towards the love seat at the end of his bed and took a seat, motioning at Jason to do the same. He did so carefully, relaxing only when he was seated and Dick had rested a warm hand on his knee. He relaxed into Dick’s touch, letting out a small sigh. 

“You know,” Jason began. “Part of me can’t believe I’m actually here.”

“Like in my bedroom?” Dick raised an eyebrow.

“That, but also just like, you know, with you in general.” Jason replied.

“Jason —“ Dick began but Jason shook his head.

“No, I get it. I’m different to the usual rich losers you date, but still. You’re this super nice, super rich guy who looks like a model. Any guy would have to pinch himself to check he wasn’t dreaming if you asked him out.” 

“I mean, you should give yourself some more credit too, though.” Dick smiled, slowly trailing his fingers up and down Jason’s thigh.

“Oh yeah?” 

“You’ve met Bruce twice and have lived to tell the tale. That’s a lot further than most other guys get.” Now that surprised Jason. He could smell the distain Bruce felt towards him a mile away. Maybe some secret black ops men  _ were _ going to sneak into his apartment in the middle of night, and then the next day he’d wake up in the middle of a Guatemalan rainforest with no method of contacting Dick or any other civilization. He had only met the man twice,but that definitely sounded like something he was very capable of.

“Do they tend to go missing in the middle of the night?” Jason smiled.

“No,” Dick grinned.”But they tend to be a whole lot less enthusiastic after they meet my boyfriend-repellent family.”

“No offence but I can tell why. Are they always like this?”

“Not really no. The thing is, Tim and I were adopted and Damian’s mothers side of the family doesn’t want anything to do with him. When you add on the fact that most of Bruce’s blood family has already passed away, you can kinda see why. When it comes to family, all we really have is each other, so anything that can change the status quo at all tends to get a lot of backlash. Don’t worry about it. It really isn’t your fault. Our family just happens to have a shared trait of being really bad at dealing with emotions.”

“And that leads to food fights and obsessive parenting?” Jason asked. Dick laughed.

“I know, they’re insane. But they’re good people at heart. Really.” He shuffled closer to Jason. “You know, dinner probably won’t be ready for a while. We could do something to entertain ourselves.”

“Like what? Watch another movie?” Jason asked. “Thanks for the offer, but I feel like we shouldn’t give your dad any more reasons to think about hiring a hitman.” 

“Well maybe I was thinking we could try something a little more private? You know, intimate?” Dick slid his fingers further up Jason’s thigh, letting them run along the seams on his jeans around the crotch. He looked up at Jason, his eyes full of want with a hint of mischief. Jason grinned back and leaned back into the seat, relaxing into Dick’s touch.

“Well if you wanted, I could read you some poetry while you drape yourself aesthetically on all this antique furniture. People in this house would appreciate the dramatics.” Dick laughed. 

“Come on. You know what I mean.”

“I do, but it’s more fun when you say it.” Dick rolled his eyes and shifted, placing one hand on the other side of Jason’s thighs. He pulled himself over to sit in Jason’s lap. He placed a hand on either side of Jason and shuffled forward until their chests were almost touching.

“Jason.” Dick whispered softly into his ear.

“Hmm?” Jason placed his hands on Dick’s waist.

“Stop being a dumbass and have sex with me.” Dick deadpanned. Jason tightened his grip on Dick’s waist. 

“You wanna move this away from the probably very valuable antique couch before we carry on?” Jason asked. He did not want to have to explain to Bruce Wayne how he got semen stains on his priceless furniture.

“It’s either the three thousand dollar couch or the ten thousand dollar bed.” 

“God damn rich people.” Jason muttered with a grin. He wrapped his arms tightly around Dick and picked him up, spinning around and depositing him quickly on the bed. Dick smiled, kicking off his shoes and struggling with his belt buckle, before Jason placed a hand over his, stilling it. Dick looked up at Jason, who still stood over the bed. 

“What’s the matter?” Dick asked.

“Oh, nothing.” Jason replied mischievously. “Just savouring the moment.” 

“Can you hurry up and savour me instead?” Dick kicked out a leg and ran his foot up and down Jason’s leg.

“What, are we on a schedule or something?” Jason joked.

“I mean if you want our butler to walk in on us while we’re going at it, then be my guest.” Dick replied, now shifting so that he could run his hands up Jason’s arms, feeling his thick muscles. “I’m not going to kinkshame. But I’d prefer something private.” And with that, he pulled hard, causing the unsuspecting Jason to land on top of him, at which point Dick began to pepper him with kisses. 

Jason began to run his hands up and down Dick’s torso, feeling his warm muscular body moving under his touch. 

He must have lost focus or something, because a few seconds later, Dick had wormed his way out of his jeans and has proceeded to open Jason’s belt buckle. Jason lifted his hips and let Dick slide them off, pulling his shirt over his head. Dick paused for a moment to admire the view of Jason’s bare chest before taking off his own shirt and digging around in one of his side drawers. 

“Here.” He threw a condom and a bottle of lube towards Jason. “Hurry up.” Jason took one look at the full blown pupils of Dick’s lust filled eyes, and he was already rearing to go.

“Are you sure about this?” Jason asked one more time. 

“Jay, I’m half naked with you on my bed. I think I’m pretty sure about this.” Dick replied. “Are you?” Jason paused, but not for more than a moment before he nodded, placing his hands on Dick’s hips and pulling them towards him. Dick grinned as he landed on top of Jason, squirming out of his pants while he trailed kisses down Jason’s neck. Jason sighed and tilted his head back, letting Dick kiss him all over his body, run his hands all over him and whisper into his ear. He laid back and let Dick have his way with him, letting him slowly and carefully prepare him with his fingers, before proceeded to fuck him a lot less slowly and a lot less carefully. The two writhed and moaned in pleasure, almost completely oblivious to their surroundings. That was, until there was a knock at the door loud enough to pull their attention away from each other. Jason turned to face the door, which quite thankfully remained closed. 

“Master Dick,” Called Dick’s butler from the other side of the door. “I know that you must be busy -- ahem -- entertaining Mr. Todd, but if you two could finish up quickly, I did make steak for dinner and I won’t have you ruining it by making it rest for too long.”

“M’kay Al.” Dick called out, hurriedly scrambling to separate himself from Jason and pull his clothes back on. Jason hurried to get his clothes back on too, and hide the bright red blush which rose across his face. 

“Honestly, how do you survive like this?” Jason asked as he pulled his t-shirt back over his head. “It’s like you have at least three parents watching you every second.”

“Yeah,” Dick chuckled as he buttoned up his shirt. “I love them to death but it really wouldn’t kill them to give me a little more privacy.” He shrugged as he headed to his mirror and tidied his hair. Self-consciously, Jason began to pat his hair down too until it resembled something a little less wild. They both then headed down the stairs, Dick leading Jason to the dining room. 

The dining room was just as fancy as Jason would have expected it to be. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling, its crystals casting glittering spots of light across the room. Underneath the chandelier was a long dinner table. It looked like it could seat at least a good twelve people, but the table was only set for three. At the head of the table sat Bruce, his face expressionless. One seat was set on either side of him. Following Dick’s lead, Jason took a seat on one side of him, with Dick taking the other. Alfred was at the table, setting down the food and arranging it.

“I thought you were going to eat in your office.” Dick looked to Bruce. 

“I was going to, but then I realized that I would have been missing out on a great chance to get to know Jason more.” Bruce smiled, a hint of passive-aggressiveness in his voice. Jason shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He didn’t know if it was just because he was there, but every time he saw Bruce and Dick in the same room, there always seemed to be a thick layer of tension in the air. It was unnerving to say the least. 

“Um, that’s very nice of you, sir.” Jason said, in his best attempt at being polite. 

“Please,” Bruce began to put his food in. “Call me Bruce.” Jason began to fill his plate too, there was steak, potatoes, and greens as well as a creamy sauce and a salad. 

“Thanks, Bruce.” Jason smiled hesitantly as he loaded his plate with potatoes. “What would you like to know?”

“Well, why don’t we start with what you want to do after you finish college?” Bruce’s attention was diverted almost entirely towards Jason, making the invisible icy wall between the two even more noticeable. 

“Uh, I’m thinking of teaching maybe?” Jason prayed he was giving the right answer. 

“Teaching?” Bruce asked. “That doesn’t really pay very much does it?” He made the comment lightly, but Jason still froze in his seat in fear.  _ Fuck. Wrong answer. _ Across the table, Dick was glaring daggers at a seemingly oblivious Bruce. 

“Uh yeah, I guess.” Jason attempted to dig himself out of the hole he’d landed it. “But like, to me it’s more about the kids than the money, right? Like uh, I didn’t really grow up with a lot of positive role models and you know I feel like it would be nice to give kids that opportunity. 

“That’s commendable.” Bruce nodded. “The Wayne Foundation also does a lot of work with underprivileged children. Isn’t that right, Dick?” Bruce smiled icily at Dick, and Jason got the impression that there was a whole other conversation going on in the room that he had no idea about. 

“Uh yeah,” Dick replied as he stabbed his potatoes with a little more vigour than necessary. “We do stuff like fundraisers and stuff to help them out and whatever.”

“Exactly.” Bruce smiled. “In fact, we’re actually about to launch a program to help inner-city teenagers work their way towards STEM careers. Do you think you could be of any help?”

“Well uh, I don’t really know too much about STEM, but --”

“Oh well that’s too bad.” Bruce replied without a hint of disappointment in his voice. He looked over to his other side, where Dick was shoveling vegetables into his mouth, probably doing his best to block out the conversation going on. 

“In a hurry?” He asked. 

“Yeah.” Dick gulped down a mouthful of potatoes. “Roy is throwing a party tonight and I thought I’d bring Jason along.” Upon hearing the name  _ Roy _ Bruce’s face fell. He narrowed his eyes. 

“Dick,” He began. Whatever passive aggressiveness in his voice was gone and replaced with a low, commanding tone. 

“I know, I know.” Dick replied. “But he’s my friend, and --”

“Don’t you remember what happened last time?” Bruce hissed. 

“Yeah.” Dick retorted. “I do. And if I’m not there it’s probably going to happen again. He doesn’t have an overbearing dad like I do. I have to look out for him.” Bruce glared at Dick for a few more moments before turning back to his plate. 

“Whatever. Just be safe. And don’t expect me to bail you out again this time.” He said coldly. The rest of the meal was eaten in complete silence, which would have been much more enjoyable than the awkward passive aggressive conversation if it weren’t for the thick layer of tension that filled the room. Bruce finished eating first, pushing his chair back and getting up from the table without even picking up his dishes.

“Great dinner, Alfred!” He called back to the kitchen before he walked off, presumably back to his office, leaving Dick and Jason sitting at the table. 

“What was all that about?” Jason whispered as soon as Bruce was out of earshot.

“Don’t worry about it.” Dick waved a hand in the air. “So do you wanna head to Roy’s party tonight?”

“That depends. Who’s Roy?”

“One of my best friends.” Dick replied. “He has great parties but sometimes he needs me there as damage control. You in?” Jason mulled it over. It really would piss off Bruce. The part of him that feared the man desperately wanted to say no, but yet he really didn’t want to turn Dick down. And besides, a party full of filthy rich white kids could be fun. At least there would be plenty of good booze. 

“Sure.” Jason replied.

“Great!” Dick beamed with a smile that made Jason feel warm and fuzzy inside. “After you finish just let me get dressed and we can head out.” Dick smiled as he stroked Jason’s leg with his foot under the table. 


End file.
